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KLONDIKE.
The Chicago record's book
FOR
GOLD-SEEKERS.
CHAPTER L
WHERE THE GOLD IS FOUND.
HE Klondike placer mines are located
in the Northwest territory of British
America, just east of the Alaskan
border line, and about 2,200 miles
from the mouth of the Yukon river.
The Klondike is a stream which en-
ters the Yukon about two miles from
Dawson City, which is about 170
miles from Circle City. The Klon-
dike is about 140 miles in length, running in a westerly
direction, and the gold-bearing creeks, where the richest
deposits have been found, run into the Klondike from a
southerly direction.
Two and a half miles up the Klondike, from its conflu-
ence with the Yukon river, is Bonanza creek, which has
several small tributaries. Twelve miles from where the
Bonanza creek enters the Klondike, and running ap-
16 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
proximately parallel with the Yukon, is El Dorado creek,
which is from twelve to fifteen miles in length. About
seven miles further up Bonanza creek is Gold Bottom
creek, and several miles beyond is Adams creek, and
still nearer the source of Bonanza creek are smaller
streams, all gold bearing. Some twelve miles up the
Klondike is Bear creek, with its tributaries; twelve miles
beyond Hunker creek empties into the Klondike, and
about the same distance from there, up the Klondike, is
Too Much Gold creek. The richest finds have been made
principally on the Bonanza and El Dorado, but rich
strikes have been reported on all the creeks named.
Prospectors have found rich deposits on Indian river,
which empties into the Yukon about fifty miles below
the Klondike. Indian river runs in a southwesterly di-
rection, and running out of Indian creek is Quartz creek,
a well-explored stream about fifty miles from the con-
fluence of Indian creek and the Yukon. About six miles
from the mouth of Quartz creek, extending in a north-
erly direction to the range of hills which separates the
delta of Indian creek from that of the Klondike, is First
Left Hand fork; eight miles beyond is Kettleson fork.
From the opposite side and running in an opposite direc-
tion out of Quartz creek, and about five miles from its
mouth, is Phil creek. From the latest reports these
creeks are being prospected extensively, and good finds
have been made.
All of these rivers and creeks contain gold, and it is be-
lieved that over 500 claims will be located in Indian creek
alone. Further south yet lies the head of several
branches of Stewart river, on which some prospecting
has been done and good indications found, but the want
of provisions prevented development. Gold has been
found in several of the streams joining Pelly river, and
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 17
also all along the Hootalinqua. In the line of these finds
farther south is the Cassiar gold field in British Colum-
bia; so the presumption is that in the territory along
tlie easterly watershed of the Yukon is a gold-
bearing belt of indefinite width, and upward of three
hundred miles long, exclusive of the British Columbia
part of it. On the westerly side of the Yukon prospect-
ing has been done on a creek a short distance above
Selkirk with a fair amount of success, and on a large
creek some thirty or forty miles below Selkirk fair pros-
pects have been found. But, as before remarked, the
difficulty of getting supplies here prevents any exten-
sive or extended prospecting.
The gold streak is anywhere from eight to thirty feet
from surface and is reached by sinking a shaft from two
to three feet w'ide and six feet long down to the pay
streak and then drifting under ground along the pay
streak. Sinking this shaft and working the pay streak
is made difficult from the fact that from the surface to
the deepest depth that has yet been reached the ground
is always frozen, and a process of firing, in order to thaw
out the ground, is employed. A brush and wood fire is
built in the bottom of the shaft, which, burning all night,
thaws out the ground from eight to fourteen inches. The
gravel is shoveled out during the day and the operation
repeated until the required depth is reached. The aver-
age progress in the shaft is from eight to fourteen inches
per day. When the pay streak is reached the miners drift
under the ground, which does not have to be supported
by timbers on account of its being frozen. The fire in
thawing out the pay streak generates a noxious gas,
which, after the fire has burned out, must be expelled
before work can be done. This is accomplished by the
use of bellows, fans and other devices. A machine, how-
2
18 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ever, is being manufactured in Seattle that is expected
to expel these gases speedily.
The process of "placer" mining in Alaska is about as
follows: After clearing all the coarse gravel and stone
ofif a patch of ground, the miner lifts a little of the finer
gravel or sand in his pan, which is a broad, shallow
dish, made of strong sheet iron or copper; he then puts
in water enough to fill the pan, and gives a few rapid
whirls and shakes; this tends to bring the gold to the
bottom, on account of its greater specific gravity.
The dish is then shaken and held in such a way that
the gravel and sand are gradually washed out, care being
taken as the process nears completion to avoid letting
out the finer and heavier parts that have settled to the
bottom. Finally all that is left in the pan is whatever
gold may have been in the dish and some black sand,
which almost invariably accompanies it.
This black sand is nothing but pulverized magnetic
iron ore. Should the gold thus found be line, the con-
tents of the pan are thrown into a barrel containing water
and a pound or two of mercury. As soon as the gold
comes in contact with the mercury it combines with it
and forms an amalgam.
The process is continued until enough amalgam has
been formed to pay for "roasting" or "firing." It is
then squeezed through a buckskin bag, all the mercury
that comes through the bag being put back into the bar-
rel to serve again, and what remains in the bag is placed
in a retort, if the miner has one, or, if not, on a shovel,
and heated until nearly all the mercury is vaporized.
The gold then remains in a lump with some mercury still
held in combination with it.
This is called the "pan" or "hand" method, and is
never, on account of its slowness and laboriousness, con-
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAPS.
Page
Klondike Gold Field 14
"All Wateb" Route 28, 39
"Overland" Route 36, 37
Takou River Route 44
Stikeen River Route 45
Yukon River and its Branches 80, 81
"Back Door" Routes ]:i8, 199
Copper River Gold Field 240
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Chilkoot Pass. Frontispiece 2
Miles Canyon Rapids 23
Wharf at Seattle 59
Juneau 60
Starting at Head Waters 70
Work at Night 93
Placer Gold Claim, Miller's Creek ... - loi
Circle City 103
Northwest Mounted Police - . . - . - ng
Section op a Klondike Placer Claim - - . . 129
Miner's Pan, Cradle, Long Tom AND Fr:.;' - - - 130
Halt in Chilkoot Pass ------- 143
Steamer " Arctic " Yukon River . - - - . 157
Scene on Forty Mile Creek ------ 153
View Across the Yukon ------ 168
Miles Canyon 177
xii MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
Alaska Steamer "Excelsior" 178
Sxow Storm in the Mountains - - - - - 188
Dog Train - - - 310
Sluicing - - 230
Dawson City 230
Forty Mile Creek and Town 250
The First Pan -...--.. 260
Prospectors Striking a New Creek . - - - 370
An Alaska Glacier -------- 280
Lake Bennett - - 290
Saw Mill on the Yukon 299
Sitka - - - - 300
Fort Cudahy 310
Steamboat on the Yukon 330
Unalaska 330
Treadwell Gold Mills 340
Sitka Harbor - - 350
A Cache on the Yukon - - - . . . 36O
Pack Horses to the Pass 370
Mission on the Yukon River ------ 388
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Chapter
I-
Chapter
II-
Chapter
III-
Chapter
IV-
VChapter
V-
Chapter
VI-
Chapter
VII-
Chapter
VIII-
Chapter
IX-
Chapter
X-
Chapter
XI-
Chapter
XII
Chapter
XIII-
Chapter
XIV-
Chapter
XV-
^Chapter
XVI-
Chapter
XVII-
Chapter XVIII-
Chapter
XIX-
Chapter
XX-
Chapter
XXI-
Chapter
XXII-
Chapter XXIII-
Chapter XXIV—
Chapter
XXV-
Pag9
-Where the Gold Is Found, 15
-How TO Get to the Klondike, - - - - 20
—The Gold-Seeker's Outfit, 50
-The Yukon and its Branches, - - - 65
-Capital Required by Gold-Seekers, - 94
-Hints for Prospectors and Miners, - 108
-United States Mining Laws, - - . - 135
-Canadian Mining Laws, 149
-Richness of the Placer Mines, - - - 162
-Pan Values of Paying Claims, - - - 175
-The "Back Door" Route, 189
—International Boundary Dispute, - - 213
-Cold Winters and Short Summers, - - 228
-Professor Spurr's Report, 237
-Mail Service in the Klondike, - - - 257
-Life in Dawson City, 266
-Ogilvie's Report on the Yukon DistpvIct, 287
-Gold History of Alaska, — 298
-The Hudson's Bay Company, - - - - 307
-Eli Gage's Yukon Journey, 318
-The World's Gold Product, 343
-A Model Indian Town, 363
-Game in the Klondike Country, - - - - 373
-Knew Yukon District Years Ago. - - - 381
-History of Alaska, --- 391
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 19
tinned for any length of time when it is possible to pro-
cure a "rocker," or to make and work sluices.
A "rocker" is simply a box about three feet long and
two wide, made in two parts, the top part being shal-
low, with a heavy sheet-iron bottom, which is punched
full of cjuarter-inch holes. The other part of the box is
fitted with an inclined shelf about midway in its depth,
which is six or eight inches lower at one end than at
the other. Over this is placed a piece of heavy woolen
blanket. The whole is then mounted on two rockers,
much resembling those of an ordinary cradle, and when
in use they are placed on two blocks of wood so that the
whole may be readily rocked.
After the miner has selected his claim, he looks for the
most convenient place to set up his "rocker," which must
be near a good supply of water. Then he proceeds to
clear away all the stones and coarse gravel, gathering
the finer gravel and sand in a heap near the "rocker."
The shallow box on top is filled with this, and with one
hand the miner rocks it, while with the other he ladles
in water.
The finer matter with the gold falls through the holes
on to the blanket, which checks its progress, and holds
the fine particles of gold, while the sand and other matter
pass over it to the bottom of the box, which is sloped
so that what comes through is washed downward and
finally out of the box.
Across the bottom of the box are fixed thin slats, be-
hind which some mercury is placed to catch any particles
of gold which may escape the blanket. If the gold is
nuggety, the large nuggets are found in the upper box,
their weight detaining them until all the lighter stufif
has passed through, and the smaller ones are held by a
deeper slat at the outward end of the bottom of the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 23
out, thus enabling the miner to work advantageously and
profitably the year round. This method has been found
very satisfactory in places where the pay streak is at any
great depth from the surface. In this way the complaint
is overcome which has been so commonly advanced by
the miners and others that in the Yukon region several
months in the year are lost in idleness.
Winter usually sets in very soon after the middle of
September and continues until the beginning of June,
and is decidedly cold. The mercury frequently falls to
60 degrees below zero, but in the interior there is so
little humidity in the atmosphere that the cold is more
easily endured than on the coast. In the absence of ther-
mometers miners, it is said, leave their mercury out all
night. When they find it frozen in the morning they con-
clude it is too cold to work, and stay at home. The tem-
perature runs to great extremes in summer as well as
in winter. It is quite a common thing for the thermome-
ter to register 100 degrees in the shade.
Gold dust passer, current at $17 an ounce, though
actually of the value c«£ $16.50 an ounce.
24 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER II.
HOW TO GET TO THE KLONDIKE.
0
MER MARIS, who was sent into Alaska
in 1896 by the CHICAGO RECORD,
and who now is on his way to the Klon-
dike fields, made the trip through the
Chilkoot pass. He describes the va-
rious routes to the Klondike as fol-
lows :
There are three principal ways of go-
ing to the Klondike gold fields. One
is an all-water route from Seattle by way of the mouth of
the Yukon. It is a fifteen days' voyage from Seattle to
St. Michael. One goes straight out into the Pacific to-
ward Japan for 1,800 miles. Then one turns through Uni-
mak pass to the Aleutian islands, and touches for a day
at the port of Dutch Harbor. Thence one sails away to
the north across Bering sea and past the seal islands, 800
miles farther, to the port of St. Michael.
This is a transfer point, and the end of the ocean
voyage. At St. Michael, after a wait of anywhere from
a day to two weeks, granting that the river is open, one
may go aboard a fiat-bottomed river steamer for another
fifteen or twenty days' voyage up the Yukon.
If one should arrive at St. Alichael as early as Aug.
25 he would have pretty good assurance of reaching the
mines before cold weather closed river navigation, but
arriving later than that his chances would be good for
either wintering on the desolate little island of St. Mi-
chael or traveling by foot and dog-sled the 1,900 miles
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 25
to the mines after the river had frozen into a safe high-
way.
The distance from Seattle to Dawson City by way of
St. Michael and the Yukon river according to the figures
of the Alaska commercial company is 4,720 miles, as fol-
lows :
Miles.
Seattle to St. Michael 3,000
St. Michael to Kutlik 100
Kutlik to Andreafski 125
Andreafski to Holy Cross 145
Holy Cross to Koserefsky 5
Koserefsky to Anvik 75
Anvik to Nulato 225
Nulato to Novikakat I45
Novikakat to Tanana 80
Tanana to Fort Yukon 45°
Fort Yukon to Circle City 80
Circle City to Forty-Mile 240
Forty-Mile to Dawson City 5^
Distance from Seattle 4,722
The other way of getting to the mines, commonly
called the Juneau route, is much more direct, but it is
broken by various methods of transportation. The first
stage is a four days' trip from Seattle up the coast 900
miles to Juneau. This is the principal Alaskan port, a
town of 5,000 inhabitants, and a very good outfitting
point, as prices are but little higher than at the cities
of Puget sound. Everything that a miner needs can
be procured there in ordinary times, although such a
rush as is expected might exhaust the resources of the
town.
From Juneau there is yet another short stage by salt
water — 100 miles a little west of north, to the head of the
Lynn canal, a long, narrow inlet. The landing at the
26 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
head of the inlet is called Dyea, and has a trading post,
where the things that one inevitably has overlooked in
the first outfitting may be purchased. There is also at
Dyea a village of 200 or 300 Chilkoot Indians, who make
their living by packing miners' outfits over Chilkoot pass,
a portage of from twenty to thirty-two miles, according
to which one of the chain of small lakes one chooses to
begin fresh-water navigation.
The Indians have competition for a part of the dis-
tance, at least in packing goods over this portage. Some
white contractors have trains of pack-horses that are
used on the first twelve miles of the distance. During
the last two seasons prices for transporting supplies from
Dyea to Lake Bennett, w^hich latter place is usually
made the beginning of Yukon navigation, have varied
from 5 cents a pound to 16 cents. In the event of there
being 1,000 or 2,000 men at the pass at one time, the
present service would be inadequate, and prices for pack-
ing, no doubt, would go to an extortionate figure. Nat-
urally, this would oblige the majority of gold-seekers to
do their own packing. A thousand pounds of goods could
only be considered a fair outfit for one man, and if the
man had to carry it himself, it would take him no less
than a month to do it.
The next thing, after getting safely over the pass, is
to build a boat. Four men who are handy with tools can
take the standing spruce, saw out lumber and build a
boat large enough to carry them and their 4,000 pounds
of provisions all in a week. It should be a good, staunch
boat, for there are storms to be encountered on the lakes,
and rapids, moreover, that would shake a frail craft to
pieces. The boat should have a sail that could be raised
and lowered conveniently.
With boat built one starts from the head of Lake Ben-
"ALL WATEk" route VIA
ST, MICHAEL AND YUKON RIVERS.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 31
nett on the last stage of the trip — a sail of 600 miles
down stream (not counting lakes) to Dawson City, at
the mouth of the Klondike. With fair weather, at the
evening of the second day one reaches Miles canyon,
the beginning of the worst piece of water on the trip.
The voyager has passed through Lake Bennett and
Takish and Marsh lakes. At the head of Miles canyon
begins three miles of indescribably rough water, which
terminates in White Horse rapids.
During the rush of gold hunters it is probable there
will be men at Miles canyon who will make a business
of taking boats through the rapids, and unless one is
an experienced river man it is economy to pay a few dol-
lars for such service, rather than to take the greater
chances of losing an outfit.
After the rapids comes Lake LeBarge, a beautiful
sheet of water thirty-five miles long, and in this connec-
tion a suggestion is desirable. Near the foot of the lake,
on the left side, is a creek coming in which marks a good
game country. A year ago and in previous seasons
moose were plentiful there, and in the rugged mountains
nearer the head of the lake there always have been good
hunting grounds for mountain sheep. A delay of a week
either in this locality or almost any of the small streams
that flow into the succeeding 200 miles of river, for the
purpose of laying in a good supply of fresh meat, is
worth considering. Moose meat that can be preserved
until cold weather sets in will sell for a fancy price.
The first trading post and settlement of white men
to be encountered on the river is at Fort Selkirk, oppo-
site the mouth of Pelly river. Thence it is a little more
than a day's run down to Sixty Mile, and it takes less
than a day to go from Sixty Mile to Dawson City.
There is another suggestion to consider before arriv-
32 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ing at Sixty Mile. All along that part of the river are
many timbered islands, covered with tall, straight spruce.
With such an influx of prospectors as is expected at
Dawson City before winter begins building logs will be
in great demand. Cabin logs ten inches in diameter and
twenty feet long, sold at Circle City last year, in the raft,
at $3 each. With an increased demand, and with better
mines, the prices at Dawson City may be much higher.
Four men can handle easily a raft of 500 or 600 such
logs. Getting them out would be a matter of only a week
or two.
The distance from Seattle, via the Chilkoot pass route,
according to figures made by the Northern Pacific rail-
way, is as follows:
Miles. Miles.
Seattle to Juneau 899
*Juneau to Dyea 96
Dyea to Lake Lindeman 28
Across Lake Lindeman 6
Portage, Lindeman to Lake Bennett i;^
Across Lake Bennett to Cariboo Crossing. 30
Across Tagish lake 19
Six-Mile river to Marsh lake 6
Across Marsh lake 20
Fifty-i\Iile river from Marsh lake to Lake
LeBarge 5^
Across Lake LeBarge 31
Thirty-Mile river to Hootalinqua river. . . 30
Down Hootalinqua and Lewes rivers to
Fort Selkirk 187
Fort Selkirk down the Yukon to Dawson
City 195
Total distance from Dvea to Dawson
City '. 603I
Distance from Seattle i»5984
*If steamers, however, go direct to Dyea this distance
would be shortened perhaps 20 miles.
BOOK FOR GOi^D-SEEKERS. 33
What is known as the "Back Door" route to the Klon-
dike, and sometimes called the Hudson Bay company's
route, is by way of St. Paul to Edmonton, Northwest
territory, on the Canadian Pacific railroad. It is said
that prospectors will be able to enter the Klondike dis-
trict much earlier in the year if they take this route. The
Back Door route starts from St. Paul and Minneapolis
by way of the Soo line and the Canadian Pacific, and
is all rail as far as Edmonton. A stage line runs to Atha-
basca Landing on the Athabasca river, forty miles away.
There the fortune hunter must provide himself with a
canoe and head due north.
The Athabasca current will carry him into Athabasca
lake, and finally into Great Slave lake, whence the Mac-
kenzie river flows. From the mouth of the Mackenzie
the Peel river must be taken south, and then by portage
the Rocky mountain range is crossed. Just across the
range the Stewart river opens the way to the Klondike
route. The distance is given by the Hudson's Bay com-
pany as 1,882 miles, as follows:
Miles.
Edmonton to Athabasca Landing 40
To Fort McMurray 240
Fort Chippewyan 185
Smith Landing 102
Fort Smith 16
Fort Resolution 194
Fort Providence 168
Fort Simpson 161
Fort Wrigley 136
Fort Norman 184
Fort Good Hope i74
Fort Macpherson 282
Total ., 1,882
34 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
It is claimed that there are but two portages, the first
forty miles from Edmonton to Athabasca Landing and
the second is a sixteen miles' trip at Smith Landing.
This last portage, however, is easy to make, for the Hud-
son's Bay company has built a tramway which can be
used. There are four or five other portages on the route,
according to the Canadian Pacific officials, all of which
are a few hundred yards in length.
The Back Door route is the old Hudson Bay trunk
line, which was traveled by Sir John Franklin in 1825,
and almost constantly used by the Indians and trappers
ever since. It is down grade all the way. The Hudson's
Bay company has small freight steamers plying wherever
the water is of any depth. It is said that able-bodied
men can make the trip from Edmonton to Fort Mac-
pherson in fifty to sixty days. If they reach the mouth
of the JMackenzie and find the Peel river frozen over they
have the option of dog trains, and it is claimed that the
use of the pack train cuts the difficulties of the Alaskan
route in half. A. H. Heming of Montreal, who accom-
panied Casper Whitney, when Whitney made his ex-
plorations in the Barren lands, is authority for this state-
ment:
"A party of three men with a canoe should reacii Fort
Macpherson easily in from fifty to sixty days, provided
they are able-bodied young fellows with experience in that
sort of travel. They will need to take canoes from here,
unless they propose to hire Indians with large birch bark
canoes to carry them. Birch bark canoes can be secured
of any size up to the big ones manned by ten Indians
that carry three tons. But birch barks are not reliable
unless Indians are taken along to doctor them and keep
them from getting water-logged. The Hudson's Bay com-
OVERLAND ROUTE VIA
DYEA, LEWES AND YUKON RIVERS,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 39
pany will also contract to take freight northward on
their steamers until the close of navigation."
The rush through Chilkoot pass this year has con-
gested that "thoroughfare" and has caused many people
to look around for other ways for getting through the
mountain ranges into the country where the head waters
of the Yukon can be reached. The first regularly organ-
ized prospecting expedition which started for the Yukon
in 1880 went through Chilkoot pass, and since then it
has been looked upon as the only available one. The
people of Juneau have been very partial to the Chilkoot
pass, because all persons going by that route must pass
through their city both going and coming. This perhaps
has had something to do with the importance which Chil-
koot pass has attained as a gateway to the Yukon coun-
try. Now, however, that the rush for the gold fields is
on, with a prospect of a jam at Chilkoot pass next spring,
the necessity has arisen for the investigation of other
ways of breaking through the barrier of mountains.
One of the ways recommended is known as the Takou
route. The entrance to this inlet is ten or twelve miles
south of Juneau, and is navigable for the largest ocean
vessel a distance of eighteen miles to the mouth of the
Takou river. This river is navigable by canoe at all
stages of the water for a distance of fifty-three miles to
Nakinah river, where land travel has to begin. A dis-
tance of seventy miles must be traversed before Lake
Teslin — one of the chain of lakes which form the head
waters of the Yukon — is reached. From here the Yukon
can be reached by boat with comparative ease. The total
distance from Juneau to Lake Teslin is 150 miles.
The Yukon river is not navigable for steamers of light
draught, except during freshets, which last about a month
and usually occur in June. Indians say the river is open
40 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
from May to the middle of September for canoes carry-
ing from two to four tons of freight. The wind during
the summer is from the southwest and sails are used on
the canoe, which greatly assists in working up against
a four-mile current. At the end of the fourth day the
mouth of the Nakinah river is reached. From here to
Lake Teslin the journey must be made on foot. The
course is up this stream until Katune creek is reached,
four or five miles. Then the course is in a northeast direc-
tion over a low range of mountains, forming a beautiful
and undulating country. According to the Indians, the
snow in winter only falls here to a depth of from i8 to 24
inches. The vegetation in summer is luxuriant and
thousands of head of stock could subsist. The country
all the way from the inlet abounds with game, such as
cariboo, deer, ground-hog, grouse, etc. The rivers and
small lakes are alive with fish. Several varieties of ber-
ries were also found in great quantities.
On both sides of the Takou river up to the Nakinah
the country is quite level, being bottom land, and with
little expense a good wagon road, or, for that matter, a
railroad, could be constructed. From Nakinah river un-
til Teslin lake is reached there is no place over which a
horse with a 200-lb, pack could not travel. The country
traversed is generally dry. A few swamps are encoun-
tered, but no difficulty is found in getting around them.
With a wagon road or even a trail the head of canoe navi-
gation on the Takou to Lake Teslin, according to In-
dians, the thousands of people who are on their way to
the Klondike could reach their destination without any
delays or stoppages, and could take along almost any
kind of an outfit. The steamers nnining north would call
in at Takou inlet where a fleet of large canoes would take
passengers to the head of navigation, and from there by
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 41
trail to Lake Teslin and thence down the Yukon. This
route would require not over twenty days' time to reach
Klondike after leaving Puget sound.
Distances from Seattle to Dawson City over the Takou
route approximate:
Miles.
Seattle to Juneau 899
Juneau to Takou inlet 12
Takou inlet to mouth of Takou river 18
Takou river to Nakinah river 53
Nakinah river to Lake Teslin (overland) 70
Teslin lake to Dawson City, through Teslin lake,
Hootalinqua river, Lewes river and Yukon river. 598
Juneau to Dawson City 1,650
Another route recommended is by way of the Stikeen
river, Telegraph creek and Lake Teslin to the Yukon.
The Canadian government has decided to make a large
grant for opening up an all-Canadian route to the Yukon
by the Stikeen river. Telegraph creek and Lake Teslin.
The trail has already been cut through from Telegraph
creek to Lake Teslin, a distance of 150 miles. A. E.
Mills, one of the party who worked on the trail, says,
with the money proposed to be spent by the government
this will be the best and easiest route to the Yukon, and
the one that will be generally used next spring. The
practicability of this route is best explained by Mr. Mills'
account of the party's trip from Wrangel to Lake Teslin.
He says:
"We left Fort Wrangel on Alay ly, and after a pleas-
ant run up the Stikeen river 140 miles on a steamer we
reached Telegraph creek. On the 23d of May we left
to commence operations by following up Dease lake
trail to Tahltan bridge, and then turning to the left up
Tahltan river on the old Hudson Bay trail to a place
42 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
called Jimtown, where we camped. From this point we
proposed to rim over the level highland, thereby mak-
ing a more direct route to the lake, but found that route
would be impracticable on account of the snow, a large
quantity being on the ground at the time, so that route
was abandoned, and then it was decided to cut a new
trail from Telegraph creek straight across on the left of
Tahltan river, crossing the west fork about fifteen miles
from Telegraph and five miles farther on connecting with
the old Hudson Bay trail, making a saving of about twen-
ty miles between the points mentioned.
"The old trail was cleared of all obstructions and fol-
lowed to the old Hudson bay post, where some log build-
ings still stand. It is here that the only hill of any ac-
count was encountered, that being about three miles of
heavy grade. However, I am sure this can be remedied
by cutting a new trail around the hill, following the
creek. The country in general is very open, and what
timber there is is very small and scrubby. A good deal
of swamp land is found and it is very mossy in places,
but with some corduroy and ditching or draining a fine
trail would be the result, and I believe it would be the
best route to the Yukon. The trail runs through a val-
ley from five to twenty miles wide, which is very level
with the exception of the hill mentioned and a few
gulches, on which we made good grades and got over
easily.
"About thirty miles this side of Lake Teslin we reached
the summit, where waters run north. I may say the head-
waters of the Yukon commence from this point. A great
number of lakes were found. The last fifteen miles was
as good bottom as any found on the trail. Here we
found a large river running into the lake, which I sup-
pose is formed by the lakes mentioned and the surround-
TAKOU RIVER ROUTE.
STIKEEN RIVER ROUTE.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 47
ing watershed. The lake was reached and we were within
eight or ten days of Klondike, with smooth water and no
portages.
"When the government grant is expended on the trail
the trip could be made in twelve or fifteen days with a
pack train from Telegraph creek, at per pound, say, 12
cents, and could leave by the middle of May in ordinary
seasons and by the time the destination would be reached
the ice would be out of the lakes. One very important
feature of the trail is that abundant grass is to be found
all the way."
Approximate distances from Seattle to Dawson City
over the Stikeen route :
Miles.
Seattle to Fort Wrangel 750
From Fort Wrangel up Stikeen river to Telegraph
creek 1 50
Telegraph creek to Teslin lake (overland) 150
Teslin lake to Dawson City, through Teslin lake,
Hootalinqua river, Lewes river and Yukon river. 598
Total distance from Seattle to Dawson City. . . .1,648
One party of gold seekers followed the Stikeen route.
A member of the party, Albert D. Gray, of Grand Rapids,
Mich., describes the route fully. As the Stikeen route is
to be developed and improved by the Canadian govern-
ment, Mr. Gray's detailed description is of considerable
value. He said:
"From Seattle we went to Fort Wrangel, 140 miles
this side of Juneau, and there we took the 150-ton steamer
Alaskan, which plies on the Stikeen river. The Stikeen
river is very broad at some points and at others where
it runs through canyons it narrows down to 100 feet or
so, just room enough for the steamer to pass between
the steep, rocky walls. Rapids were numerous, and fre-
48 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
quently the crew would have to go ashore and line' the
steamer through a narrow rapid, where the water ran
so swiftly that it made us dizzy; when nearing a bit of
water of this kind the propeller was never used. After
shutting down the machinery, lines would be attached
to a steam capstan on the deck of the steamer. The ends
of these lines then were made fast to trees on either side
of the river, and by means of the steam capstan the boat
was warped along cautiously until open water was
reached.
"The weather was not so cold as we looked for, just
bracing; the trail along the Stikeen follows the left bank
of the river almost to the confluence of the Iskoot river,
where it crosses the Stikeen, following the left bank of the
Iskoot to Telegraph creek. At that point the trail trends
to the west and north as far as the Tahlian river, following
that course over a great flat plateau until the foot of Tes-
lin, or Allen's, lake is reached. Telegraph creek is, as
far as the Stikeen river, navigable.
"There were three others besides Chappell and myself
i» the party which reached Telegraph creek on the Alas-
kan. At the creek six white men and two Stick Indians
joined our party. We hired the Indians to act as guides
as far as the Cassiar gold diggings near Diese lake, sev-
enty-two miles to the north of Telegraph creek. We
started for Diese lake afoot, packing our provisions and
supplies, of which we had an abundance, on thirteen
horses. On this journey we made about six miles every
twenty-four hours, going into camp whenever we felt
like it.
"At the Cassiar diggings we found a few Chinamen
working placers, but they made only a bare living, so
our party after looking over the ground decided not to
stay there. We concluded to push on for Lake Teslin,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 49
which is about 140 miles to the north of Cassiar. Previous
to that time some white men had been as far on that
route as the Koukitchie lakes, seventy-five miles beyond
Telegraph creek, but we blazed the trail from that point
on to Lake Teslin and through to the Yukon river. It
is probable that we made some deviations from what
is now the known route. The tramp to Lake Teslin was
not so very difficult, considering that we were in a coun-
try never before trodden by the foot of a civilized man.
We had some trouble with rivers and creeks, and had
to cut down trees and lay bridges across Nahlin river and
Beebe creek. It is a comparatively safe and easy jour-
ney, nevertheless.
"On the 19th day of July we reached Lake Teslin. It
is one of the most beautiful bodies of waters on the Amer-
ican continent. Its dimensions are about 130 miles long
by an average of three and one-half miles wide. When
we were there the ground was free of snow and vegeta-
tion was abundant. We remained in the vicinity of Lake
Teslin some two or three weeks, when Chappell and I
decided to leave the others and try to find our way to
the Yukon river. Before setting out we prospected up
the Nisulatine river, but found no gold. Upon leaving
the lake my friend and I followed the Hootalinqua or
Teslin river, a fine stream about 120 miles in length,
toward the Klondike country. It flows into the Yukon
just above the Klondike district, where it and Thirty-
Mile or Lewes river join in practically forming the Yu-
kon. Here all the trails into that country meet together
in a great canyon in Seminow hills. Thirty-Mile river
drains the lakes about Dyea pass.
"After leaving the mouth of the Hootalinqua we fol-
lowed the Yukon slowly into Dawson City, which we
reached on the 12th of October."
50
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER III.
THE GOLD-SEEKERS' OUTFIT.
EXT to a supply of ready cash a man who
has designs upon the placer mines of
the Klondike region will need at least
one year's supply of food, clothing and
working materials. This is the advice
which is given by all who have returned
from the scene of the great gold strikes.
The miners and prospectors who have
been to Alaska insist that no man
should think of going to that country for the purpose of
prospecting for gold without at least one years supply
of provisions and with a cash capital of at least $500 to
$1,000.
Many of those w-ho rushed for the Klondike this year
failed to take this advice, and as a consequence large
numbers were turned back by the Northwestern mounted
poHce at the very gateway. Hundreds of lists of "essen-
tials" have been made up by men who are experienced
Alaska prospectors and miners. An analysis of twenty
so-called practical lists indicates that the list makers had
largely consulted their individual preferences as to the
quantity and quality of certain kinds of rough and ready
"delicacies."
This analysis shows that the man who has lived in
Alaska among the gold-bearing creeks for anywhere
from one to ten years figures that an adequate supply
of food per day per man varies from four and a half to
five and a half pounds. This would bring the actual
food supply for one year for each person to fully 1,600
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 51
pounds. Highly carbonaceous food should predomi-
nate; stimulants of alcoholic character should be avoided.
One pound of tea is equal to seven pounds of coffee
for drinking purposes; three-quarters of an ounce of
saccharin (this concentrated sweet can be obtained from
druggists) is equal to twenty-five pounds of sugar, so
that three ounces of saccharin is equal to lOO pounds of
sugar. Citric acid is a remedy for scurvy.
"Jack Carr," the famous Yukon mail carrier, has given
a list for an outfit which, he says, will last one man one
year in the Klondike district. This list follows:
Flour, pounds 400
Cornmeal, pounds 50
Rolled oats, pounds 50
Rice, pounds 35
Beans, pounds 100
Candles, pounds 40
Sugar, granulated, pounds 100
Baking powder, pounds 8
Bacon, pounds 200
Soda, pounds 2
Yeast cakes (6 in package) packages 6
Salt, pounds 15
Pepper, pounds i
Mustard, pounds ^
Ginger, pounds i
Apples, evaporated, pounds 25
Peaches, evaporated, pounds 25
Apricots, evaporated, pounds 25
Fish, pounds 25
Pitted plums, pounds 10
Raisins, pounds 10
Onions, evaporated, pounds 5°
Potatoes, evaporated, pounds 5^
Coffee, pounds 24
Tea, pounds 5
Milk, condensed, dozen 4
Soap, laundry, bars 5
3
52 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Matches, packages 60
Soup vegetables, pounds 15
Butter, sealed, cans 25
Tobacco, at discretion
Stove, steel
Gold pan
Granite buckets, i nest of 3
Cups
Plates (tin)
Knives and forks, each
Spoons — tea, i ; table 2
Whetstones
Coflfee pot
Pick and handle
Saw, hand
Saw, whip
Hatchet
Shovels, ^ spring 2
Nails, pounds 20
Files 3
Drawknif e
Ax and handle
Chisels, 3 sizes 3
Butcher knife
Hammer
Compass
Jack plane
Square
Yukon sleigh
Lash rope, ^-inch, feet 60
Rope, |-inch, feet 150
Pitch, pounds 15
Oakum, povinds 10
Frying pans 2
Woolen clothes.
Boots and shoes.
Snow-glasses.
If one is not going to build a boat, the oakum, pntch
and tools can be dispensed with. In summer a sled is
not necessary. Those going on a steamer by way of
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 53
St. Michael are recommended to take plenty of deli-
cacies, costing little, but greatly appreciated. Above all,
the caution is given, "take plenty."
The Northern Pacific railroad company has made up
a list of supplies necessary for one man for one year for
the Klondike mining outfit and the cost of the same at
Seattle and Tacoma. The passenger officials of the road
say that this list can be relied upon as containing every-
thing that is needed:
Bacon, pounds 1 50
Flour, pounds 400
Rolled oats, pounds 25
Beans, pounds 125
Tea, pounds 10
Coffee, pounds 10
Sugar, pounds 25
Dried potatoes, pounds 25
Dried onions, pounds 2
Salt, pounds 15
Pepper, pounds i
Dried fruits, pounds 75
Baking powder, pounds 8
Soda, pounds 2
Evaporated vinegar, pounds -|
Compressed soup, ounces 12
Soap, cakes 9
Mustard, cans i
Matches (for four men), tins i
Stove for four men.
Gold pan for each.
Set granite buckets.
Large bucket.
Knife, fork, spoon, cup and plate.
Frying pan.
Cofifee and tea pot.
Scythe stone.
Two picks and one shovel.
One whipsaw.
Pack strap.
54 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Two axes for four men and one extra handle.
Six 8-inch files and two taper files for party.
Drawing knife, brace and bits, jack plane and hammer,
for party.
200 feet three-eighths-inch rope.
8 pounds of pitch and five pounds of oakum for four
men.
Nails, five pounds each of 6, 8, 10 and 12-penny, for
four men.
Tent, 10x12 feet, for four.
Canvas for wrapping.
Two oil blankets to each boat.
5 yards mosquito netting for each man.
3 suits heavy underwear.
1 heavy mackinaw coat.
2 pairs heavy mackinaw trousers.
I heavy rubber-lined coat.
1 dozen heavy wool socks.
"I dozen heavy wool mittens.
2 heavy overshirts.
2 pairs heavy snagproof rubber boots.
2 pairs shoes.
4 pairs blankets (for two men).
4 towels.
2 pairs overalls.
I suit oil clothing.
Besides these things each man procures a small assort-
ment of medicines, and each is provided with several
changes of summer clothing.
The foregoing outfit costs in round figures as follows :
Groceries $ 40.00
Clothing 50.00
Hardware 50.00
Total $140.00
The outfits purchased in Seattle by twenty experienced
miners on their way to the Klondike are regarded as
models by miners and prospectors who have returned
from that region. The twenty men first divided them-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS.
selves into five parties of four men each, intending to
have a boat for each party as well as a tent, and various
smaller articles. The main items of their outfits are as
follows, the items, when not otherwise mentioned, being
for one man;
Bacon, pounds 150
Flour, pounds 250
Rolled oats, pounds 25
Beans, pounds 100
Tea, pounds 10
Cofifee, pounds 10
Sugar, pounds 40
Dried potatoes, pounds 25
Dried onions, pounds 2
Salt, pounds ^o
Pepper, pounds ^
Dried fruits, pounds 75
Baking powder, pounds 4
Soda, pounds ^
Evaporated vinegar, pounds 2
Compressed soup, ounces 12
Soap, cakes 9
Mustard, cans ^
Matches (for four men), tins i
Rice, pounds 4°
Stove for four men.
Gold pan for each.
Set granite buckets.
Large bucket.
Knife, fork, spoon, cup and plate.
Frying pan.
Cofifee and tea pot.
Scythe stone.
Two picks and one shovel.
One whipsaw.
Pack strap.
Two axes for four m.en and one extra handle.
Six 8-inch files and two taper files for party
Drawing knife, brace and bits, jack plane and hammer,
for party.
56 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
200 ^''•t 3-8-inch rope.
S pounds of pitch and five pounds of oakum for four
.. - ]i.
Vails, five pounds each of 6, 8, 10 and 12-penny, for
four men.
Shoemaker's thread.
Shoemaker's awl.
Gum for patching gum boots.
Tent, 10x12 feet, for four.
Canvas for wrapping.
Two oil blankets to each boat.
5 yards mosquito netting for each man.
3 suits heavy underwear.
1 heavy mackinaw coat.
2 pairs heavy mackinaw trousers.
•| dozen heavy wool socks.
■| dozen heavy wool mittens.
2 heavy overshirts.
2 pairs heavy snagproof itibber boots.
2 pairs shoes.
3 pairs blankets (for two men).
4 towels.
2 pairs overalls.
1 suit oil clothing.
2 rubber blankets.
Besides these things each man procures a small as-
sortment of medicines, and each is provided with several
changes of summer clothing.
Here is a list of medicines for four men:
25c worth cascara sagrada bark.
I bottle good whisky.
3 boxes carbolic salve.
I bottle arnica.
The above outfit cost in round figures as follows:
Groceries $ 40.00
Clothing 50.00
Hardware 50.00
Total $140.00
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKBRS. 57
Fare to Dyea and incidentals brought the expense of
these twenty prospectors. up to about $175 each. They
believe that they are very well supplied for a year's stay
in the land of the midnight sun.
It will be noticed that the lists made up by the twenty
miners and the list of the Northern Pacific railroad are
identical in many respects, indicating that the miners
based their estimates upon the estimate made by the rail-
road company. The miners made up their lists, however,
after numerous consultations with returned miners in
Seattle, and, as a result, made up a lighter pack.
A Seattle outfitting house, which has been in the busi-
ness for a number of years, made out the following
"standard" list of clothing, which the proprietor of the
establishment said would weigh 140 pounds, and would
be necessary, if the miner wanted to be really comfortable
in the Klondike regions:
Seattle Forty Mile
price. price.
Four suits wool underclothes $20.00 $80.00
Two heavy sweaters 10.00 30.00
Two "mackinaws" or Havre shirts. . . . 20.00 60.00
Four pairs caribou mittens 8.00 20.00
Two fur caps 10.00 20.00
Two fur robes QO-OO 200.00
Three pairs blankets 25.00 100.00
Three pairs overalls 3.00 25.00
Four pairs moccasins i5-00 20.00
One cape, with hood, "parkie" 15.00 30.00
Four heavy wool shirts i5-00 45-00
Three pairs rubber boots i5-00 75.00
Twelve pairs wool stockings 30.00 100.00
Totals $276.00 $805.00
This outfitting establishment has adopted the following
58 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
list of supplies suitable for six months for one man on
the Klondike:
Weight Cost in Cost at
Outfit. (lbs.) Seattle. Forty Mile.
Beans loo $2.50 $10.00
Baking powder 10 5.00 20.00
Bacon 100 15.00 55.00
Butter 50 15.00 60.00
Coffee 25 7.50 35.00
Flour 400 11.00 75-00
Fruit (dried) 100 5.00 40.00
Lard 40 4.00 25.00
Matches 5 6.00 15.00
Milk (condensed) 25 5.00 50.00
Pepper 3 .75 5.00
Potatoes (dried) 100 5.00 30.00
Rice 20 i.oo 10.00
Salt 10 1.00 5.00
Stove and utensils no 90.00 400.00
Pick, shovel, ax, hatchet,
etc 20 I5-00 125.00
Tea 25 8.00 40.00
Totals 1,143 $196.75 $1,000.00
The lists of supplies are intended as a guide for those
who desire to make the trip to the Klondike overland,
that is, through one of the several passes which will lead
to the Lewes and Yukon river routes. The steamboats
that run up the Yukon river to St. INIichael are operated
by com.panies who have store houses in Circle City, Fort
Cudahy, Forty Mile, Dawson City and other points.
These transportation and trading companies will not
carry the "grub" supply for their passengers, so that pros-
pectors who take the Yukon river route will not be able
to purchase their food supply before they start.
V/hile it is probab?e that gold seekers will be able to
$ave some money Vy' p'urcl^asing their supplies at home if
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 61
they are east of the Rocky mountains, it will be the better
policy to purchase supplies in San Francisco, Seattle,
Portland, V^ictoria or from whatever port the start is
made. In those cities ever}^thing that will be required
can be obtained, and the outfitting establishments and
stores will pack the goods in a way w'hich experience has
proved to be the best.
Omer Maris, of the CHICAGO RECORD, who has
made the trip overland and also dov.-n the Yukon, sent
the following suggestion regarding boats from Seattle
just before he sailed for Dyea Aug. 2, for the benefit of
those who intend to go overland:
"The greatest demand for any particular thing is for
boats. People, to save time in getting down the river,
should take their boats with them. A half dozen
carpenters or planing-mill establishments have caught
the idea and are working night and day turning out
knockdown boats. One that will carry a ton costs about
$18 and weighs about 200 pounds. It is taken apart
with no pieces more than six or seven feet long and
packed for shipping. The demand is so good for these
boats that the builders are several days behind with their
orders. The principal objection to them is that the In-
dians and packers dislike to contract to carry them over
the m.ountains on account of their awkward shape. One
builder has now^ worked out a model for a galvanized iron
boat that can be carried in sections fitting together like
a "nest" of custard dishes and can be put together with
small bolts. As a suggestion to those coming from the
east, I would say that a canvas folding boat that will carry
two tons and is constructed on good lines would be very
available for the Yukon. A keel, mast and some addi-
tional bracing could be added after reaching the interior."
One of the miners who returned from the Yukon dis-
62 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
trict after five years in that country had this word of advice
to give to tenderfeet:
"Very rarely is sufficient importance attached to the
medical chest, which should have a place in every pros-
pector's pack. In case of emergency, drugs and ap-
pliances for the relief of pain are invaluable. A supply
of citric acid should be carried for the relief of scurvy.
The astringent property of the lime or lemon is due to
this acid. A few drops mixed with water and sugar
makes excellent lemonade. The drug store can furnish
saccharin tablets in place of sugar; three-quarters of an
ounce of this concentrated sweet is equal to twenty-five
pounds of sugar. It will be easily seen what a saving
this would effect. An hundred pounds of sugar at 5^
cents per pound would be $5.50. Add to this 22 cents
per pound for packing over the summit at Dyea, and the
total cost is $27.50, besides the room it would take. Sac-
charin costs but $1.50 an ounce, and the three ounces,
equal to 100 pounds of sugar, would cost but $4.50, the
cost of packing being nominal for such small bulk.
"Some preparation for the reception of the myriads of
mosquitoes is also necessary.
"The following articles would each be found of use, to
be purchased in quantities according to the judgment of
the individual: Liniment for sprains and cold on the
lungs, tincture of iron to enrich the blood, extract of Ja-
maica ginger, laudanum, vaseline, carbolic ointment,
salts, cough tablets, mustard and adhesive plasters, sur-
geon's lint, bandages, liver pills, powder for bleeding, ab-
sorbent cotton, surgeon's sponge, needles and silk, qui-
nine capsules and toothache drops."
All supplies are subject to a tariff tax by the Canadian
government, and if this policy is continued, gold seekers
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 63
must be prepared to pay the Canadian customs officials
an entry tax as follows:
Shovels and spades, picks, etc., 25 per cent.
Horses, 20 per cent.
Axes, hatchets and adzes, 25 per cent.
Baking powder, 6 cents per pound.
Bed comforters, 32^ per cent.
Blankets, 5 cents per pound and 25 per cent.
Boats and ships' sails, 25 per cent.
Rubber boots, 25 per cent.
Boots and shoes, 25 per cent.
Breadstuffs, viz., grain, flour and meal of all kinds, 20
per cent.
Butter, 4 cents per pound.
Candles, 28 per cent.
Cartridges and ammunition, 30 per cent.
Cheese, 3 cents per pound.
Cigars and cigarettes, $2 per pound and 26 per cent.
Clothing — Socks, 10 cents per dozen pairs and 35 per
cent.
Knitted goods of every description, 35 per cent.
Ready-made goods, partially of wool, 30 per cent.
Waterproof clothing, 35 per cent.
Coffee, condensed, 30 per cent; roasted, 2 cents per
pound and 10 per cent; substitutes, 2 cents per pound;
extracts, 3 cents per pound.
Condensed milk, 3 cents per pound.
Cotton knitted goods, 35 per cent.
Crowbars, 35 per cent.
Cutlery, 35 per cent.
Dogs, 20 per cent.
Drugs, 20 per cent.
Duck, from 20 to 30 per cent.
Earthenware, 30 per cent.
Edge tools, 35 per cent.
Fire arms, 20 per cent.
Fishhooks and lines, 25 per cent.
Flour, wheat, 75 cents per barrel; rye, 50 cents per
barrel.
Fruits, dried, 25 per cent.
64 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Fruits, prunes, raisins, currants, i cent per pound.
Fruits, jellies, jams, preserves, 3 cents per pound.
Fur caps, muffs, capes, coats, 25 per cent.
Furniture, 30 per cent.
Galvanized iron or tinware, 30 per cent.
Guns, 20 per cent.
Hardware, 32^ per cent.
Harness and saddlery j, 30 per cent.
Jerseys, knitted, 35 per cent.
Lard, 2 cents per pound.
Linen clothing, 32^ per cent.
Maps and charts, 20 per cent.
Meats, canned, 25 per cent; in barrel, 2 cents per
pound.
Oatmeal, 20 per cent.
Oiled cloth, 30 per cent.
Pipes, 35 per cent.
Pork, in barrel, 2 cents a pound.
Potatoes, 15 cents a bushel.
Potted meats, 25 per cent.
Powder, mining and blasting, 2 cents a pound.
Rice, I 1-4 cents a pound.
Sacks or bags, 20 per cent.
Sawmills, portable, 30 per cent.
Sugar, 64-100 cents a pound.
Surgical instruments, 15 per cent.
Tents, 32^ per cent.
Tobacco, 42 cents per pound and 12^ per cent.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 65
CHAPTER IV.
THE YUKON AND ITS BRANCHES.
EFORE William Ogilvie, the famous
explorer and the Dominion land sur-
veyor of the Department of the In-
terior of the Canadian government,
surv^eyed the entire distance from
Dyea to the crossing of the interna-
tional boundary line and the Yukon
river, the information respecting the
Yukon district was derived from hearsay and unreliable
sources. Mr. Ogilvie is regarded as the best informed
man in the world in regard to this district, which has
become famous the world over since gold was struck on
the Klondike. He has embodied a fund of information
of the utmost value to prospectors in his report, which
is just ofi. the presses of the government printing bureau
at Ottawa, Ontario.
His surveys of the Yukon and its tributaries were
made for the purpose of giving to the Canadian govern-
ment the information needed for taking up the question
of improving the navigability of those rivers. As gold
has been found in almost all of the creeks, streams and
rivers named by Mr. Ogilvie in his valuable report, it is
reprinted in these pages for the purpose of giving miners
and prospectors authentic information derived from an
official source. It is as follows:
"For the purpose of navigation a description of the
Lewes river begins at the head of Lake Bennett. Above
that point, and between it and Lake Lindeman, there
66 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
is only about three-quarters of a mile of river, which
is not more than fifty or sixty yards wide, and two or
three feet deep, and it is so swift and rough that naviga-
tion is out of the question.
"Lake Lindeman is about five miles long and a half
mile wide. It is deep enough for all ordinary purposes.
Lake Bennett is twenty-six and a quarter miles long, for
the upper fourteen of which it is about half a mile wide.
About midway in its length an arm comes in from the
west, which Schwatka appears to have mistaken for a
river, and named Wheaton river. This arm is wider than
the other arm down to that point, and is reported by In-
dians to be longer and heading in a glacier which lies
in the pass at the head of Chilkoot inlet. This arm is,
as far as is seen, surrounded by high mountains, ap-
parently much higher than those on the arm we traveled
down. Below the junction of the two arms the lake is
about one and a half miles wide, with deep water. Above
the forks the water of the east branch is muddy. This is
caused by the streams from the numerous glaciers on
the head of the tributaries of Lake Lindeman.
"A stream which flows into Lake Bennett at the south-
west corner is also very dirty, and has shoaled quite a
large portion of the lake at its mouth. The beach at
the lower end of this lake is comparatively flat and the
water shoal. A deep, wide valley extends northwards
from the north end of the lake, apparently reaching to
the canyon, or a short distance above it. This may have
been originally a course for the waters of the river. The
bottom of the valley is wide and sandy, and covered with
scrubby timber, principally poplar and pitch pine. The
waters of the lake empty at the extreme northeast angle
through a channel not more than lOO yards wide, which
soon expands into what Schwatka called Lake Nares
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 67
(the connecting waters between Lake Bennett and Tagish
lake constitute what is now called Caribou crossing).
Through this narrow channel there is quite a current,
and more than seven feet of water, as a six-foot paddle
and a foot of arm added to its length did not reach the
bottom.
"The hills at the upper end of Lake Lindeman rise
abruptly from the water's edge. At the lower end they
are neither so steep nor so high. Lake Nares is only
two and a half miles long, and its greatest width is about
a mile; it is not deep, but is navigable for boats drawing
five or six feet of water; it is separated from Lake Ben-
nett by a shallow, sandy point of not more than 200 yards
in length. No streams of any consequence empty into
either of these lakes. A small river flows into Lake Ben-
nett on the west side, a short distance north of the fork,
and another at the extreme northwest angle, but neither
of them is of any consequence in a navigable sense.
"Lake Nares flows through a narrow curved channel
into Bove lake (Schwatka). This channel is not more
than 600 or 700 yards long, and the water in it appears
to be sufficiently deep for boats that could navigate the
lake. The land between the lakes along this channel is
low, swampy and covered with willows, and at the stage
in which I saw it, did not rise more than three feet above
the water. The hills on the southwest side slope up
easily, and are not high; on the north side the deep
valley already referred to borders it; and on the east
side the mountains rise abruptly from the lake shore.
"Bove lake (called Tagish lake by Dr. Dawson) is
about a mile wide for the first two miles of its length,
when it is joined by what the miners have called Windy
arm. One of the Tagish Indians informed me they
called it Takone lake. Here the lake expands to a width
68 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
of about two miles for a distance of some three miles,
when it suddenly narrows to about half a mile for a dis-
tance of a little over a mile, after which it widens again
to about a mile and a half or more.
"Ten miles from the head of the lake it is joined by
the Taku arm from the south. This arm must be of con-
siderable length, as it can be seen for a long distance,
and its valley can be traced through the mountains much
farther than the lake itself can be seen. It is apparently
over a mile wide at its mouth or junction.
"Dr. Dawson includes Bove lake and these two arms
under the common name of Tagish lake. This is much
more simple and comprehensive than the various names
given them by travelers. These waters collectively are
the fishing and hunting grounds of the Tagish Indians,
and as they are really one body of water, there is no rea-
son why they should not be all included under one
name.
"From the junction with the Taku arm to the north
end of the lake the distance is about six miles, the
greater part being over two miles wide. The west side
is very fiat and shallow, so much so that it was impos-
sible in many places to get our canoes to the shore, and
quite a distance out in the lake there was not more than
five feet of water. The members of my party who were
in charge of the boat and outfit went down the east side
of the lake and reported the depth about the same as I
found on the west side, with many large rocks. They
passed through it in the night in a rain storm, and were
much alarmed for the safety of the boat and provisions.
It would appear that this part of the lake requires some
improvement to make it in keeping with the rest of the
water system with which it is connected.
"Where the river debouches from it, it is about 150
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 71
yards wide, and for a short distance not more than five
or six feet deep. The depth is, however, soon increased
to ten feet or more, and so continues down to what
Schwatka calls Marsh lake. The miners call it Mud
lake, but on this name they do not appear to be agreed,
many of them calling the lower part of the Tagish or
Bove lake 'Mud lake,' on account of its shallowness
and flat, muddy shores, as seen along the west side, the
side nearly always traveled, as it is more sheltered from
the prevailing southerly winds. The term 'Mud lake*
is, however, not applicable to this lake, as only a com-
paratively small part of it is shallow or muddy; and it
is nearly as inapplicable to Marsh lake, as the latter is
not markedly muddy along the west side, and from the
appearance of the east shore one would not judge it to
be so, as the banks appear to be high and gravelly.
"Marsh lake is a little over nineteen miles long, and
averages about two miles in width. I tried to determine
the width of it as I went along with my survey, by taking
azimuths of points on the eastern shore from different
stations of the survey; but in only one case did I succeed,
as there were no prominent marks on that shore which
could be identified from more than one place. The
piece of river connecting Tagish and Marsh lakes is
about five miles long, and averages 150 to 200 yards in
width, and, as already mentioned, is deep, except for a
short distance at the head. On it are situated the only
Indian houses to be found in the interior with any pre-
tention to skill in construction.
"The Lewes river, where it leaves Marsh lake, is
about 200 yards wide, and averages this width as far as
the canyon. I did not try to find bottom anywhere as I
' went along, except where I had reason to think it shallow,
and there I always tried with my paddle. I did not any-
4
72 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
where find bottom with this, which shows that there is
no part of this stretch of the river with less than six feet
of water at medium height, at which stage it appeared
to me the river was at that time,
"From the head of Lake Bennett to the canyon the cor-
rected distance is ninety-five miles, all of which is navi-
gable for boats drawing five feet or more. Add to this
the westerly ami of Lake Bennett, and the Takone or
Windy arm of Takish lake, each about fifteen miles in
length, and the Taku arm of the latter lake, of unknown
length, but probably not less than thirty miles, and we
have a stretch of water of upwards of one hundred miles
in length, all easily navigable; and, as has been pointed
out, easily connected with Taiya inlet through the White
pass.
"No streams of any importance enter any of these
lakes so far as I know. A river, called by Schwatka
'McClintock river,' enters Marsh lake at the lower end
from the east. It occupies a large valley, as seen from
the westerly side of the lake, but the stream is apparently
unimportant. Another small stream, apparently only a
creek, enters the southeast angle of the lake. It is not
probable that any stream coming from the east side of
the lake is of importance, as the strip of country between
the Lewes and Teslintoo is not more than thirty or forty
miles in width at this point.
"The Taku arm of Tagish lake is, so far, with the ex-
ception of reports from Indians, unknown; but it is equal-
ly improbable that any river of importance enters it, as
it is so near the source of the waters flowing northwards.
However, this is a question that can only be decided by
a proper exploration. The canyon I have already de-
scribed, and will only add that it is five-eighths of a mile
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 73
long, about lOO feet wide, with perpendicular banks of
basaltic rock from 60 to 100 feet high.
"Below the canyon proper there is a stretch of rapids
for about a mile ; then about half a mile of smooth water,
following which are the White Horse rapids, which are
three-eighths of a mile long, and unsafe for boats. The
total fall in the canyon and succeeding rapids was meas-
ured and found to be 32 feet. Were it ever necessary to
make this part of the river navigable it will be no easy
task to overcome the obstacles at this point; but a tram
or railway could, with very little difficulty, be constructed
along the east side of the river past the canyon.
"For some distance below the White Horse rapids the
current is swift and the river wide, with many gravel
bars. The reach between these rapids and Lake Le Barge,
a distance of twenty-seven and a half miles, is all
smooth water, with a strong current. The average width
is about 150 yards. There is no impediment to naviga-
tion other than the swift current, and this is no stronger
than on the lower part of the river, which is already navi-
gated; nor is it worse than on the Saskatchewan and
Red rivers in the more eastern part of our territory.
"About midway in this stretch the Tahkeena river (the
Tahkeena was formerly much used by the Chilkat In-
dians as a means of reaching the interior, but never by
the miners, owing to the distance from the sea to its
head) joins the Lewes. This river is, apparently, about
half the size of the latter. Its waters are muddy, indicat-
ing its passage through a clayey district. I got some
indefinite information about this river from an Indian
v;ho happened to meet me just below its mouth, but I
could not readily make him understand me, and his re-
plies were a compound of Chinook, Tagish, and signs,
and therefore largely unintelligible. From what I could
74 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
understand with any certainty, the river was easy to de-
scend, there being no bad rapids, and it came out of a
lake much larger than any I had yet passed.
"Lake Le Barge is thirty-one miles long. In the upper
thirteen it varies from three to four miles in width; it
then narrows to about two miles for a distance of seven
miles; when it begins to widen again, and gradually ex-
pands to about two and a half or three miles, the lower
six miles of it maintaining the latter width. The survey
was carried along the western shore, and while so en-
gaged I determined the width of the upper wide part by
triangulation at two points, the width of the narrow mid-
dle part at three points, and the width of the lower part
at three points. Dr. Dawson on his way out made a
track survey of the eastern shore. The western shore
is irregular in many places, being indented by large bays,
especially at the upper and lower ends. These bays are,
as a rule, shallow, more especially those at the lower end.
"Just above where the lake narrows in the middle there
is a large island. It is three and a half miles long and
about half a mile in width. It is shown on Schwatka's
map as a peninsula, and called by him Ritchtofen rocks.
How he came to think it a peninsula I cannot understand,
as it is well out in the lake; the nearest point of it to the
western shore is upwards of half a mile distant, and the
extreme width of the lake here is not more than five
miles, which includes the depth of the deepest bays on
the western side. It is therefore difficult to understand
that he did not see it as an island. The upper half of
this island is gravelly, and does not rise very high above
the lake. The lower end is rocky and high, the rock be-
ing of a bright red color. At the lower end of the lake
there is a large valley extending northward, which has
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 75
evidently at one time been the outlet of the lake. Dr.
Dawson has noted it and its peculiarities.
"The width of the Lewes river as it leaves the lake is
the same as at its entrance, about 200 yards. Its waters
when I was there were murky. This is caused by the
action of the waves on the shore along the lower end of
the lake. The water at the upper end and at the middle
of the lake is quite clear, so much so that the bottom
can be distinctly seen at a depth of six or seven feet.
The wind blows almost constantly down this lake, and
in a high wind it gets very rough. The miners complain
of much detention owing to this cause, and certainly I
cannot complain of a lack of wind while I was on the lake.
This lake was named after one Mike Le Barge, who was
engaged by the Western Union telegraph company, ex-
ploring the river and adjacent country for the purpose
of connecting Europe and America by telegraph through
British Columbia, and Alaska, and across Bering strait
to Asia, and thence to Europe.
"After leaving Lake Le Barge the river, for a distance
of about five miles, preserves a generally uniform width
and an easy current of about four miles per hour. It
then makes a short turn round a low gravel point, and
flows in exactly the opposite of its general course for a
mile, when it again turns sharply to its general direction.
"The Teslintoo was so called by Dr. Dawson — this,
according to information obtained by him, being the In-
dian name. It is called by the miners 'Hootalinkwa,'
or Hootalinqua, and was called by Schwatka, who ap-
pears to have bestowed no other attention to it, the New-
berry, although it is apparently much larger than the
Lewes. (The limited amount of prospecting that has
been done on the Teslintoo is said to be very satisfactory,
fine gold having been found in all parts of the river. The
76 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
lack of supplies is the great drawback to its development,
and this will not be overcome to any great extent until
by some means heavy freight can be brought over the
coast range to the head of the river. Indeed, owing to
the difficulties attending access and transportation, the
great drawback to the entire Yukon district at present
is the want of heavy mining machinery and the scarcity
of supplies. The government being aware of the require-
ments and possibilities of the country has undertaken the
task of making preliminary surveys for trails and rail-
roads, and no doubt in the near future the avenue for
better and quicker transportation facilities will be opened
up.)
"The water of the Teslintoo is of a dark brown
color, similar in appearance to the Ottawa river water,
and a little turbid. Notwithstanding the difference of
volume of discharge, the Teslintoo changes completely
the character of the river below the junction, and a
person coming up the river would, at the forks, unhesi-
tatingly pronounce the Teslintoo the main stream. The
water of the Lewes is blue in color, and at the time I
speak of was somewhat dirty — not enough so, however,
to prevent one seeing to a depth of two or three feet.
"At the junction of the Lewes and Teslintoo I met two
or three families of the Indians who hunt in the vicinity.
One of them could speak a little Chinook. He told me
the river was easy to ascend, and presented the same
appearance eight days' journey up as at the mouth ; then
a lake was reached, which took one day to cross, the
river was then followed again for half a day to another
lake, which took two days to traverse; into this lake
emptied a stream which they used as a highway to the
coast, passing by way of the Taku river. He said it
took four days when they had loads to carry, from the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 77
head of canoe navigation on the Teshntoo to salt water
on the Taku inlet, but when they come light they take
onl}^ one to two days.
"If their time intervals are approximately accurate,
they mean that there are about 200 miles of good river
to the first lake, as they ought easily to make 25 miles
a day on the river as I saw it. The lake takes one day to
traverse, and is at least 25 miles long, followed by say 12
of river, which brings us to the large lake, which takes
two days to cross, say 50 or 60 miles more — in all about
292 miles — say 300 to the head of canoe navigation;
while the distance from the head of Lake Bennett to the
junction is only 188. Assuming the course of the Tes-
lintoo to be nearly south (it is a little to the east of it),
and throwing out every fourth mile for bends, the re-
mainder gives us an arc three degrees and a quarter of
latitude, which deducted from 60° 40', the latitude of the
junction, gives us 58° 25', or nearly the latitude of Ju-
neau.
"I afterwards met T. Boswell, his brother, and another
miner, who had spent most of the summer on the river
prospecting, and from them I gathered the following:
The distance to the first, and only lake they saw, they put
at 17s miles, and the lake itself they call at least 150 miles
long, and it took them four days to row in a light boat
from end to end. The portage to the sea they did not
appear to know anything about, but describe a large bay
on the east side of the lake, into which a river of con-
siderable size entered. This river occupies a wide valley,
surrounded by high mountains. They thought this river
must head near Liard river. This account differs ma-
terially from that given by the Indian, and to put them
on their guard, I told them what he had told me, but
they still persisted in their story, which I find differs a
78 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
good deal from the account they gave Dr. Dawson, as
incorporated in his report.
"Between the TesHntoo and the Big Salmon, so called
by the miners, or D'Abbadie by Schwatka, the distance
is thirty-three and a half miles, in which the Lewes pre-
serves a generally uniform width and current. For a
few miles below the Teslintoo it is a little over the or-
dinary width, but then contracts to about 200 yards,
which it maintains with little variation. The current is
generally from four to five miles per hour. The Big Sal-
mon I found to be about 100 yards wide near the mouth,
the depth not more than four or five feet, and the current,
so far as could be seen, sluggish.
"Just below the Big Salmon the Lewes takes a bend
of nearly a right angle. Its course from the junction
with the Tehkeena to this point is generally a little east
of north; at this point it turns to nearly west for some
distance. Its course between here and its confluence with
the Pelly is northwest, and, I may add, it preserves this
general direction down to the confluence with the Porcu-
pine. Thirty-six and a quarter miles below the Big Sal-
mon, the Little Salmon — the Daly of Schwatka — enters
the Lewes. This river is about sixty yards wide at the
mouth, and not more than two or three feet in depth.
The water is clear and of a brownish hue; there is not
much current at the mouth, nor as far as can be seen up
the stream. It is said that some miners have prospected
this stream, but I could learn nothing definite about it.
"Lewes river makes a turn here to the southwest, and
runs in that direction six miles, when it again turns to the
northwest for seven miles, and then makes a short, sharp
turn to the south and west around a low, sandy point,
which will at some day in the near future be cut through
by the current, which will shorten the river three or four
YUKON KIVER AND ITS BRANCHES. FROM REPORT OF WILLIAM OGILVIE,
DOMINION SURVEYOR.
YUKON RIVER AND ITS BRANCHES. FROM REPORT OF WILLIAM OGILVIE.
DOMINION SURVEYOR.
This is a continuatioQ of the Map ou opposite page.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 83
miles. Eight miles below Little Salmon river a large
rock called the Eagle's Nest, stands up in a gravel slope
on the easterly bank of the river. It rises about five
hundred feet above the river, and is composed of a light
gray stone. Thirty-two miles below Eagle's Nest rock
Nordenskiold river enters from the west. It is an unim-
portant stream, being not more than 120 feet wide at the
mouth, and only a few inches deep. The valley, as far
as can be seen, is not extensive, and being very crooked
it is hard to tell what its general direction is. The Lewes,
between the Little Salmon and the Nordenskiold, con-
tains a width of from 200 to 300 yards, with an occasional
expansion where there are islands. It is serpentine in its
course most of the way, and where the Nordenskiold joins
it is very crooked, running several times under a hill,
named by Schwatka Tantalus Butte, and in other places
leaving it, for a distance of eight miles. The distance
across from point to point is only half a mile.
"Below this to Five Finger rapids, so called from the
fact that five large masses of rock stand in mid-channel,
the river assumes its ordinary straightness and width,
with a current from four to five miles per hour. I do
not think the rapids will prove anything more than a
slight obstruction in the navigation of the river. A boat
of ordinary power would probably have to help herself
up with windlass and line in high water. Below the
rapids, for about two miles, the current is strong — prob-
ably six miles per hour — but the water seems to be deep
enough for any boat that is likely to navigate it. Six
miles below this the Rink rapids are situated. They are
of no great importance, the westerly half of the stream
only being obstructed. The easterly half is not in any
way alTected, the current being smooth and the water
deep.
84 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
"Below Five Finger rapids about two miles a small
stream enters from the east. It is called by Dr. Daw^son
Tatshun river. It is not more than thirty or forty feet
wide at the mouth, and contains only a little brownish
water. Between Five Finger rapids and Felly river, 58^
miles, no streams of any importance enter the Lewes ; in
fact, with the exception of the Tatshun, it may be said
that none at all enter. About a mile below Rink rapids
the river spreads out into a lake-like expanse, with many
islands; this continues for about three miles, when it
contracts to something like the usual width; but bars
and small islands are very numerous all the way to Pelly
river. About five miles above Pelly river there is another
lake-like expanse filled with islands. The river here for
three or four miles is nearly a mile wide, and so numerous
and close are the islands that it is impossible to tell, when
floating among them, where the shores of the river are.
The current, too, is swift, leaving one to suppose the
water shallow; but I think even here a channel deep
enough for such boats as will navigate this part of the
river can be found. Schwatka named this group of is-
lands Tngersoll Islands.'
"About a mile below the Pelly the Lewes is about half
a mile wide, and here, too, there are many islands, but
not in groups as at Ingersoll islands. About a mile be-
low the Pelly, just at the ruins of Fort Selkirk, the Yukon
was found to be 565 yards wide; about two-thirds being
ten feet deep, with a current of about four and three-quar-
ters miles per hour; the remaining third was more than
half taken up by a bar, and the current between it and
the south shore was very slack. Pelly river at its mouth
is about 200 yards wide, and continues this width as far
up as could be seen.
"lust here for a short distance the course of the Yukon
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 85
is nearly west, and on the south side, about a mile below
the mouth of the Lewes, stands all that remains of the
only trading post ever built by white men in the district.
This post was established by Robert Campbell, for the
Hudson Bay company in the summer of 1848. Indians
pillaged the place and set fire to it, leaving nothing but
the remains of the two chimneys, which are still stand-
ing. This raid and capture took place on the first of Au-
gust, 1852. Below Fort Selkirk the Yukon river is from
500 to 600 yards broad and maintains this width down
to White river, a distance of ninety-six miles. Islands are
numerous, so much so that there are very few parts of
the river where there are not one or more in sight. Bars
are also numerous, but almost all are composed of
gravel, so that navigators will not have to complain of
shifting sand-bars. The current, as a general thing, is
not so rapid as in the vipper part of the river, averaging
about four miles per hour. Tlie depth in the main chan-
nel was always found to be more than six feet.
"From Pelly river to within 12 miles of White river
the general course of the river is a little north of west;
it then turns to the north, and the general course as far
as the site of Fort Reliance is due north. White river
enters the main river from the west. At the mouth it is
about 200 yards wide, but a great part of it is filled with
ever-shifting sand-bars, the main volume of water being
confined to a channel not more than 100 yards in width.
The current is very strong, certainly not less than eight
miles per hour. The color of the water bears witness to
this, as it is much the muddiest of any I have ever seen.
Between White and Stewart rivers, ten miles, the river
spreads out to a mile and upwards in width, and is a maze
of islands and bars. The survey was carried down the
easterly shore and many of the channels passed through
86 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
barely afforded water enough to float the canoes. The
main channel is along the westerly shore, down which
the large boat went, and the crew reported plenty of
water.
Stewart river enters from the east in the middle of
a wide valley, with low hills on both sides, rising on
the north side in steps or terraces to distant hills of
considerable height. The river half a mile or so above
the mouth, is 200 yards in width. The current is slack
and the water shallow and clear, but dark colored. While
at the mouth I was fortunate enough to meet a miner
who had spent the whole summer of 1887 on the river
and its branches prospecting and exploring. He gave
me a good deal of information, of which I give a sum-
mary. He is a native of New Brunswick, Alexander
MacDonald by name, and has spent some years mining
in other places, but was very reticent about what he
had made or found. Sixty or seventy miles up the
Stewart a large creek enters from the south which he
called Rosebud creek or river, and thirty or forty miles
farther up a considerable stream flows from the north-
east, which appears to be Beaver river, as marked on the
map of that part of the country.
"From the head of this stream he floated down on a
raft, taking five days to do so. He estimated his progress
at forty or fifty miles each day, which gives a length
of from 200 to 250 miles. This is probably an over-
estimate, unless the stream is very crooked, which, he
stated, was not the case. As much of his time would be
taken up in prospecting I should call thirty miles or less
a closer estimate of his progress. This river is from
fifty to eighty yards wide and was never more than four
or five feet deep, often being not more than two or three;
the current, he said, was not at all swift. Above the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 87
mouth of this stream the main river is from loo to 130
yards wide, with an even current and clear water. Sixty
or seventy miles above the last-mentioned branch an-
other branch joins, which is possibly the main river.
At the head of it he found a lake nearly thirty miles long
and averaging a mile and a half in width, which he
called Mayhew lake.
"Thirty miles or so above the forks on the other
branch there are falls, which MacDonald estimated to
be from 100 to 200 feet in height. MacDonald went on
past the falls to the head of this branch and found ter-
raced gravel hills to the west and north. He crossed
them to the north and found a river flowing north-
ward. On this he embarked on a raft and floated down
it for a day or two, thinking it would turn to the west and
join the Stewart, but finding it still continuing north,
and requiring too much volume to be any of the branches
he had seen while passing up the Stewart, he returned
to the point of his departure, and after prospecting
among the hills around the head of the river, he started
westward, crossing a high range of mountains com-
posed principally of shales, with many thin seams of
what he called quartz, ranging from one to six inches in
thickness. On the west side of this range he found a
river flowing out of what he called Mayhew lake, and
crossing this got to the head of Beaver river, which he
descended as before mentioned. It is probable the
river flowing northwards, on which he made a journey
and returned, was a branch of Peel river. Judging from
all I could learn it is probable a light draft steamboat
could navigate nearly all of Stewart river and its tribu-
taries.
"From Stewart river to the site of Fort Reliance, sev-
enty-three and one-quarter miles, the Yukon is broad
88 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
and full of islands. The average width is between a half
and three-quarters of a mile, but there are many expan-
sions where it is over a mile in breadth; however, in
these places it cannot be said that the waterway is wider
than at other parts of the river, the islands being so large
and numerous. In this reach no streams of any impor-
tance enter. About thirteen miles below Stewart river
a large valley joins that of the river, but the stream occu-
pying it is only a large creek. This agrees in position
with what has been called Sixty Mile creek, which was
supposed to be about that distance above Fort Reli-
ance, but it does not agree with descriptions which I re-
ceived of it; moreover as Sixty Mile creek is known to
be a stream of considerable length this stream would
not answer the description.
"Twenty-two and a half miles from Stewart river an-
other and larger creek enters from the same side; it
agreed with the description of Sixty Mile creek and I
have so marked it on my map. This stream is of no
importance except for what mineral wealth may be found
on it. Six and a half miles above Fort Reliance the
Thron-Diuck river of the Indians (Deer river of Schwat-
ka, the Klondike) enters from the east. It is a small
river, about forty yards wide at the mouth, and shal-
low; the water is clear and transparent, and of beautiful
blue color. Dawson City is situated at the mouth of
the Thron-Diuck, and although it was located only a
few months ago it is the scene of great activity. Very
rich deposits of gold have lately been found on Bonanza
creek and other affluents of the Thron-Diuck.
"Twelve and a half miles below Fort Reliance, the
Chandindu, as named by Schwatka, enters from the east.
It is thirty to forty yards wide at the mouth, very shal-
low, and for half a mile up is one continuous rapid. Be-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 89
tween Fort Reliance and Forty Mile river (called Cone
Hill river by Schwatka) the Yukon assumes its normal
appearance, having fewer islands and being narrowed,
averaging four to six hundred yards wide, and the cur-
rent being more regular. This stretch is forty-six miles
long, but was estimated by the traders as forty, from
which the Forty Mile river took its name.
"Forty Mile town site is situated on the south side of
the Forty Mile river at its junction with the Yukon.
The Alaska Commercial company has a station here
which was for many years in charge of L. N. McQues-
tion; there are also several blacksmith shops, restau-
rants, billiard halls, bakeries, opera-house, and so on.
Rather more than half a mile below Forty Mile town
site the town of Cudahy was founded on the north side of
Forty Mile river in the summer of 1892. It is named
after a well-known member of the North American
Transportation and Trading company. The company
has erected a saw mill and some large warehouses. Fort
Constantine was established here inmiediately upon the
arrival of the mounted police detachment in the latter
part of July, 1895.
"Forty ]\Iile river joins the main river from the west.
Its general course, as far up as the international boun-
dary line, a distance of twenty-three miles, is southwest;
after this it runs nearer south. Forty Mile river is 100
to 150 yards wide at the mouth, and the current is gen-
erally strong, with many small rapids. Eight miles up
is the so-called canyon; it is hardly entitled to that dis-
tinctive name, being simply a crooked contraction of the
river with steep rocky banks, and on the north side there
is plenty of room to walk along the beach. The length
of this canyon is about a mile. Above it the river up to
the boundary line is generally smooth, with swift cur-
90 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
rent and an occasional ripple. The amount of water
discharged by this river is considerable; but there is no
prospect of navigation, it being so swift and broken by
many small rapids.
"From Forty Mile river to the boundary line the
Yukon preserves the same general character as between
Fort Reliance and Forty Mile; the greatest width being
about half a mile and the least about a quarter. Fifteen
miles below Forty Mile river a large mass of rock stands
on the east bank. This was named by Schwatka 'Ro-
quette Rock,' but it is known to the traders as 'Old
Woman Rock;' a similar mass, on the west side of the
river, being known as 'Old Man Rock.'
"From Stewart river to the mouth of the Yukon is
about 1,650 miles, and the only difificult place in all this
distance is the part near the confluence with the Porcu-
pine, which has evidently been a lake in past ages, but
is now filled with islands; the current here is swift and
the channels generally narrow, rendering navigation diffi-
cult."
Approximate distances to Fort Cudahy, compiled by
William Ogilvie, land surveyor of the Dominion of
Canada:
Via St. Michael.
Miles.
San Francisco to Dutch Harbor ^,400
Seattle or Victoria to Dutch Harbor 2,000
Dutch Harbor to St. Michael 750
St. Michael to Cudahy 1,600
Via Taiya (Dyea) Pass.
Victoria to Taiya (Dyea) 1,000
Taiya to Cudahy 650
WORK AT NIGHT.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. JJ3
Via Stikine (Stikeen) River.
Victoria to Wrangel 750
Wrangel to Telegraph creek 150
Telegraph creek to Teslin lake 150
Teslin lake to Cudahy 650
Distances from Head of Taiya Inlet.
Head of canoe navigation, Taiya river 5.90
Forks of Taiya river 8.38
Summit of Taiya pass 14-76
Landing at Lake Lindeman 23.06
Foot of Lake Lindeman 27.49
Head of Lake Bennett 28.09
Boundary line B. C. and N. W. T. (Lat. 60°) 38.09
Foot of Lake Bennett 53.85
Foot of Caribou crossing (Lake Nares) 56.44
Foot of Tagish lake 73-25
Head of Marsh lake 78.15
Foot of Marsh lake 97-21
Head of canyon 122.94
Foot of canyon 123.56
Head of White Horse rapids 124.95
Foot of White Horse rapids 125.33
Talikerna river 139-92
Head of Lake LeBarge i53-07
Foot of Lake LeBarge 184.22
Teslintoo river 215.88
Big Salmon river 285.54
Five Finger rapids 344-83
Pelly river 403-29
White river 499-1 1
Stewart river 508.91
Sixty-Mile creek 530.41
Dawson City 575-70
Fort Reliance 582.20
Forty-Mile river 627.08
Boundary line 667.43
di
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER V.
CAPITAL REQUIRED BY GOLD-SEEKERS.
ANY i\IEN have been fired with an
eager desire to go to the Klondike
regions because the gold in that coun-
try is found in the "poor man's mine,"
that is, in placer deposits. Placer
mines are called "tenderfoot mines"
and "poor man's" mines because they
are worked with comparatively inex-
pensive appliances which can be carried around by the
prospector. With a pick, shovel and pan alone the pros-
pector is able to extract the gold from the pay dirt. The
stories that have come down from the upper Yukon
basin indicate that the mines on the El Dorado, Bonanza
and other gold-bearing creeks of the Klondike are, in all
respects, "poor men's mine." But although the mines
themselves are open to every man who has a pair of
strong arms, a pick, a shovel and a pan, something more
than determination and a pair of legs is required to get
to the mines from any place in the United States. The
way is long and transportation charges are heavy.
All sorts of estimates have been made as to the amount
of ready cash a man must have to buy his outfit and pay
his passage to the Klondike country. Men "who have
been there" insist that a gold-seeker is a fool to start out
from civilization without enough money in his pocket
to give him at least a working capital of $300 when he
arrives at the diggings. Others put the figure at $500.
The majority of returned Klondikers say that the pros-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. * 95
pector must figure on at least two years' work in the gold
fields, and must make all preparations looking to the
possibility of utter failure; that is, he must have enough
money, not only to buy his outfit and provide for trans-
portation, but to pay his living expenses in the gold
country for at least two years, and have enough money
left to buy a "return ticket." There is this to comfort
the gold-seeker, however. All authorities agree in the
prediction that the men who go north in the spring of
1898 not only will have a much easier road to travel,
but will not be faced with the probability of privations
and suffering due to a lack of food and clothing in the
storehouses of trading companies.
The monopoly held by the two large transportation
companies which operate on the Yukon river from St.
Michael to the head of navigation has been broken. In-
dependent companies have been formed for the purpose
of competing for the business of handling passengers and
freight on the Yukon and other navigable rivers of Alas-
ka and the Northwest territory. This means that the cost
of transportation per passenger will be reduced, and that
the river steamers will carry freight for prospectors and
miners, and that a larger stock of provisions and goods
of all kinds needed in that country will be carried at all
times.
The fare from Seattle to any point on the Yukon river
was $200 this year (1897). This included 200 pounds of
baggage, meals and berth, but did not include the trans-
portation of anything over 200 pounds per passenger.
The company making this rate is in the trading as well
as the transportation business, and wanted to sell the
gold-seekers their outfits and stocks of provisions from
tlie company's storehouses at Circle City and other places
along the Yukon. In a circular issued by this company
96 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
the prc5spector was advised to have at least $500 capital
upon arrival at his destination, and to make his plans to
stay one year at least. This price of $200 carried the
gold-seeker from Seattle to St. Michael and up the Yukon
river to Dawson City.
One of the independent companies which is advertised
to start into the Yukon district next spring announces
that for $600 it will take a man from Seattle or San Fran-
cisco to Dawson City or any other mining center in the
Yukon district and keep him in food for one year. The
$600, however, after the prospector once arrives on the
ground, does not include cooking nor shelter after reach-
ing the Yukon. In short, the man who intends to take
the all-water route, that is, from San Francisco or Seattle
or Victoria, B. C, up the Yukon by way of St. Michael,
must be prepared to pay $200 to $250 for transportation
of himself and 200 pounds of baggage, and to spend
anywhere from $250 to $500 for his outfit and his stock
of provisions and yet have at least $300 for a "rainy day"
capital. In other words, in order to get to the "poor
man's mines" the gold-seeker should have an available
capital of from $750 to $1,000. It is believed that $700
is the least amount that a man can start out with, and the
amount may run as high up as the pocket-book will
stand.
A San Francisco steamship company advertises that it
will carry passengers from San Francisco to the Klon-
dike by way of St. Michael and the Yukon river for $300,
including 150 pounds of baggage, and will also carry ex-
tra supplies not exceeding 1,000 pounds a passenger for
10 cents a pound.
The price of an outfit in Dawson City, Circle City, and
Fort Cudahy and Forty Mile is given all the way from
$500 to $1,000. This includes a year's supply of food
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 97
and clothing and prospecting and mining outfit, and is
based on an advance of three times the cost of a Hke out-
fit in Seattle. The lowest estimate given on an outfit
was $90, in Seattle. This only included enough provis-
ions to get a man to Dawson City by the overland route.
The cost of outfits, as made up in Chicago, Seattle, San
Francisco and other points in the United States, includ-
ing clothing, groceries, hardware, armament and camp-
ing outfit, ranges from $185 to $275; to this, however,
must be added the duty charged by the Canadian authori-
ties, the average of which is nearly 25 per cent, so that
25 per cent should be added to the cost of an outfit. (See
chapter on gold-seekers' outfit.)
The overland, or the Chilkoot pass, route by way of
Dyea is the one that w-as taken by the greatest number
of gold-seekers this year, because they were able to carry
a large amount of provisions (which they were not per-
mitted to take with them on the Yukon river route), and
because they were told that bv taking this overland route
they could get to Dawson City inside of 30 days. The
steamer passage from Seattle for Juneau and Dyea cost,
to Juneau $25 per cabin and $15 for steerage; to Dyea
$40 cabin, $25 steerage. The fare included berth and
meals and free baggage to the amount of 150 pounds.
Excess baggage was carried for 10 cents a pound, and
freight for $10 a ton.
This was the cheapest of the transportation charges
from Seattle to Dyea made during the rush. The demand
made on the steamship companies by excited gold-seek-
ers sent tickets way above par, and premiums of $100
v>^ere paid. None of the steamship companies will give
an advance notice of their rates of fare for next spring,
but as every boat that would sail or float was pressed into
service this year, it is probable that many good boats will
98 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
be put into commission next spring, and competition will
hold rates level. It is estimated that nearly 6,000 people
went from the Pacific seaports to Dyea during the rush,
and the boats were overcrowded. This naturally brought
an increase in all charges.
It is announced that some of the steamship companies
are making arrangements to transport baggage and out-
fits ovier the Chilkoot pass to the head of Lake Lindeman.
If this is done the cost of portage over the pass to the
head of navigation of the Yukon will be much less next
spring than it was this year. All sorts of prices were
demanded by the Indians and packers, for they had the
gold-seekers at their mercy.
Under date of July 30, William J, Jones, a special cor-
respondent of the CHICAGO RECORD, writing from
Juneau, said that the rate over the Dyea route, under
normal conditions, was $17 a 100 pounds, but that it was
certain to be advanced to 30 or 40 cents a pound in a week
or two, and that it would be impossible for the Indians
and packers to take care of the rush. This prediction was
verified before ten days by the reports that came back
from Dyea. Several thousand gold-seekers were held at
Dyea waiting for an opportunity to cross the pass with
their outfits and stocks of provisions, and portage prices
had gone up almost "out of sight."
If this rush is repeated next spring the gold-seekers
must be prepared to go down into their pockets to pay
big premiums for carrying their outfits over the several
passes to Lake Lindeman. Undoubtedly pack horses and
mules will be substituted in a large measure for Indians
next year, and numerous plans are on foot to improve
the trail. The cost of the journey from Lake Lindeman
to the gold diggings is generally regarded as an unknown
quantity. Many men will carry and haul their provisions
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 99
themselves, building rafts and boats to go down the river.
Others, better provided with ready cash, will buy boats
at Lake Lindeman or will take boats with them from
Seattle or San Francisco, and will employ Indians to
manage the boats and act as guides, cooks and general
roustabouts.
It is claimed that miners can go from Chicago to the
Klondike by way of the "back door" route, that is, up
the Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers to the Peel river
and then across the divide into the Yukon country, for
$150. A. H. H. Heming, of Montreal, the artist who
accompanied Caspar Whitney in his trip to the "Barren
Land," says, on the authority of the Hudson's Bay com-
pany officials, that all that is needed for the "back door"
route are a good constitution, some experience in boat-
ing and camping, and about $150. Mr. Heming advises
gold-seekers to travel in parties of three, and to purchase
a good canoe for about $35 in Chicago or St. Paul. The
freight on the canoe to Edmonton, the end of the railroad
route, will be $23; cost of food at Edmonton for three
men for two months, consisting of pork, flour, tea and
baking powder, $35 ; total for three men from Chicago to
Fort McPherson, provided they travel second-class on
the Canadian Pacific railroad, will be $152.45 a man.
Thus if three men "chip in" $200 each they would have
a margin of over $140 for purchasing tools and for trans-
portation from Fort McPherson to the Klondike. Parties
should consist of three men each, as this is the crew of a
canoe on the Mackenzie river. It will take 600 pounds
of food to carry three men over the route, and passengers
on the Canadian Pacific railroad are entitled to carry
600 pounds of baggage. The tourist sleeper from St.
Paul to Calgary, the point on the Canadian Pacific where
the spur leads to Edmonton, will cost $4.
100 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Although any local ticket agent can give the railroad
rates to the Pacific coast points, the following list is given
as a suggestion for the purpose of including everything
in the estimate of cost to go from "home" to the Klon-
dike country. The railroad rates from principal points
are as follows:
New England points, practically the same as Boston
rates (get difiference between Boston and New England
points from local agents); Boston to San Francisco —
first-class, $92; second-class, $79; sleepers, $20.50; tour-
ist car, $8; meals in dining car or at stations according to
route; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess baggage,
$11 per 100 pounds; time from Boston to San Francisco,
5 days and nights.
Boston to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria,
B. C. — first-class, $83.50; second-class, $69.75; sleeper,
$21; tourist car, $7.50; meals in dining car or at stations
according to route; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; ex-
cess baggage, $10.50 to $11.50 per 100 pounds.
Note: The above rates are over the standard or first-
class lines to Chicago. If a differential or second-class
road is taken the first-class fare will be $3 less than given
above, and second-class fare $2.
New York to San Francisco — first-class, $82.50; sec-
ond-class, $72.50; sleeper, $25.50; tourist car, $11. Meals
in dining car or at stations, according to route; baggage
allowed, 150 pounds; excess baggage, $11 per 100
pounds; time from New York to San Francisco, 5 days
and 5 nights.
New York to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Vic-
toria, B. C. — first-class, $81.50; second-class, $69.75;
sleeper, $20.50; tourist car, $10; meals in dining car or
at stations, according to route; baggage allowed, 150
pounds; excess baggage, $10.50 to $11 per 100 pounds.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 103
Time from New York to Seattle and Portland, 99 hours;
Vancouver, 105 hours; Victoria, iii hours.
Note: Above fares are on first-class lines to Chicago.
If second-class road is taken, first-class fare will be $3
less and second-class fare $2 less than the above rates.
Buffalo to San Francisco — first-class, ^y6; second-
class, $62.50; sleeper, $18; tourist car, $8; meals in bag-
gage car or in stations, according to route; baggage al-
lowed, 150 pounds; excess baggage, $10.35 P^''' ^^^
pounds. Time from Buffalo to San Francisco, 4^ days
and 4 nights,
Buffalo to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria,
B. C. — first-class, $75; second-class, $62; sleeper, $18;
tourist car, $8; meals in dining car or at stations, accord-
ing to route; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess bag-
gage, $10.35 per 100 pounds. Time from Buffalo to Se-
attle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria, B. C, from 5
to 6 days and nights.
Chicago to San Francisco — first-class, $62.50; second-
class, $52.50; sleeper, $20.50; tourist sleeper, $8; meals
in dining car or at stations, according to route from $1
to 50 cents each; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess
baggage, $8.70 per 100 pounds. Time from Chicago to
San Francisco, 4 days and 4 nights,
Chicago to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria,
B, C. — first-class, $61.50; second-class, $51,50; sleeper,
$15.50; tourist, $7; meals in dining car or at stations,
according to route; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess
baggage, $8.60 per 100 pounds. Time from Chicago to
Seattle and Portland, 85 hours; Vancouver, 91 hours;
Victoria, 97 hours.
Omaha to San Francisco — first-class, $50; second-
class, $40; sleeper, $13; tourist car, $5; meals in dining
car or at stations, according to route; baggage allowed.
104 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
150 pounds; excess baggage, $7.20 per 100 pounds. Time
from Omaha to San Francisco, 4 days and 3 nights.
Omaha to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria,
B. C. — first-class, $50; second-class, $40; sleeper, $13;
tourist car, $5 ; meals in dining car or at stations, accord-
ing to route, average 75 cents each; baggage allowed, 150
pounds; excess baggage, $7.20 per 100 pounds. Time
from Omaha to Seattle and Portland, 65 hours; Van-
couver, 71 hours; Victoria, yy hours.
Denver to San Francisco — first-class, $45; second-
class, $35; sleeper, $11; tourist car, $4; meals in dining
car or at stations, according to routes, average 75 cents
each; baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess baggage,
$6.60 per 100 pounds. Time from Denver to San Fran-
cisco, 3 days and 2 nights.
Denver to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria,
B. C. — first-class, $45; second-class, $35; sleeper, $11;
tourist car, $4; meals in dining car or at stations, accord-
ing to route, average 75 cents each; baggage allowed, 150
pounds; excess baggage, $6.60 per 100 pounds. Time
from Denver to Seattle and Portland, 64 hours; Van-
couver, 70 hours ; Victoria, 76 hours.
jMinneapolis and St. Paul to San Francisco — first-class,
$57.90; second-class, $47.90; sleeper, $13.50; tourist car,
$5 ; meals in dining car or at stations, according to route;
baggage allowed, 150 pounds; excess baggage, $7.20 per
100 pounds. Time from St. Paul and Minneapolis to
San Francisco, 4 days and 3 nights.
Minneapolis and St. Paul to Seattle, Portland, Van-
couver and Victoria, B. C. — first-class, $50; second-class,
$40; sleeper, $13.50; tourist car, $5; meals in dining car
or at stations, according to route; baggage allowed, 150
pounds; excess baggage, $7.20 per hundred pounds.
Time from Minneapolis and St. Paul to Seattle and Port-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 105
land, 63 hours ; Vancouver, 69 hours ; Victoria, 75 hours.
NcAv Orleans to San Francisco — first-class, $57.50;
second-class, $47.50; sleeper, $13; tourist sleeper, $5;
meals at stations, 75 cents each; excess baggage, $8.10
per 100 pounds. Time from New Orleans to San Fran-
cisco, 4 days and 4 nights.
New Orleans to Seattle and Portland — first-class,
$70.30; second-class, $52.50; sleeper, $18; tourist sleep-
er, $6.50; meals in station, 75 cents; excess baggage,
$10.30 per hundred pounds. Time, 5 days and 5 nights.
The fare from New Orleans to Victoria, B. C. — first-class,
$74.80; second-class, $55.50; excess baggage, $10.85 P^^
100 pounds; sleepers and so forth, same as to Seattle.
For purposes of getting up an estimate of the expense
of railroad fare, the following rates are added:
To San Francisco from Baltimore and Washington —
first-class, $78.50; second-class, $55; from Louisville,
first-class, $64.10; second-class, $54.10; from Memphis,
first-class, $57.50; second-class, $47.50; from Nashville,
first-class, $60.35; second-class, $50.35; from Atlanta,
first-class, $63.35 ; second-class, $53.35; from Charleston,
first-class, $73.75; second-class, $63.75; from Philadel-
phia, first-class, $90.25; no second-class; from Pittsburg,
first-class, $73.25 ; second-class, $61 ; from Cincinnati,
first-class, $66.50; second-class, $56.50.
To Seattle and Portland from Washington and Balti-
more— first-class, $78.50; second-class, $65; from Louis-
ville, first-class, $65.50; second-class, $55.50; from Mem-
phis, first-class, $62; second-class, $52; from Nashville,
first-class, $67; second-class, $54; from Atlanta, first-
class, $74.50; second-class, $60; from Charleston, first-
class, $77.50; second-class, $67.50; from Philadelphia,
first-class, $79.75; second-class, $67.25; from Pittsburg,
106 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
first-class, $73.25 ; second-class, $61 ; from Cincinnati,
first-class, $66.50; second-class, $56.50.
Passengers from Baltimore and Washington cannot
get tourists' sleepers until they reach Chicago or St.
Louis.
By the "back door" route gold-seekers will leave Chi-
cago and go to St. Paul on any of the Chicago and St.
Paul lines, and at St. Paul take the Canadian Pacific for
Edmonton; first-class fare from Chicago to Edmonton,
$63.75; second-class, $59.45. Tourist sleeper from St.
Paul, $4.
No one should venture to set out for the Alaska dig-
gings without a "pardner." The word must not be con-
founded with partner. Partner has a smart, business-like
sound. It is precisely defined by law, and though it may
by courtesy involve something of special favor, its equi-
ties at last rest upon the decisions of courts without re-
gard to sentiment. But a "pardner" glories in sentiment.
He expects to give his m.ate all that the law requires and
call that only a beginning. Men may be chums in easy,
prosperous times, says the St. Louis Globe-Dem-
ocrat, but it is not until they pass together through
a succession of dangers and hardships that they
can become "pardners." Congeniality and implicit confi-
dence are at the base of a "pardnership;" and for better
or for worse the two men stand as one under all vicissi-
tudes, doubling each other's joys and dividing sorrows
and failures. If one falls by the way the other gives him
more than the devotion of a brother.
Gold mining eventually is a business conducted by
large capital, but placer diggings afiford an opening to
any one who can stake and work a claim. The two "pard-
ners" begin operations on the ground floor, share their
discoveries, tent together, and cook for each other. Their
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 107
qualities and traits are complimentary. "Pardners" are
closer than messmates in the army or navy. The soldier
or sailor is under the care of a bountiful provider. His
food, clothes and shelter are furnished by the govern-
ment, and his comings and goings are regulated by
orders. "Pardners," on the other hand, must skirmish
together from the start for subsistence and plans of oper-
ation. They fight the battle of life for two under hazard-
ous conditions, far from families and friends, satisfied,
for the time being, with bare necessities. Under such
a test "pardners" are forged as steel is forged.
The literature of California is full of the "pardner"
atmosphere. Bret Harte's tales would be tame without
it. But "pardners" in that state, except as gray-beard
survivors, are scarce now. They will be revived in
Alaska, and experience far greater trials than they ever
knew in the first Pacific commonwealth. Freezing and
starvation were unknown in California. It is not likely
that the mining camps in Alaska will permit any one to
starve, but they have a regulation for shipping those lack-
ing means or resources out of the country. In a com-
munity of "pardners" a high sense of general humanity
wdll prevail, but there must be prudence as to feeding
drones during the long season when the lines of supply
are interrupted. Alaska will furnish a great growth of
friendship, with the "pardner" as its top flower. No man
can utterly fail there who has a good "pardner," and is
one. Among the glaciers and the frozen moss, where a
blossom has never opened to the light, the lines of Holmes
will take on a new beauty, teaching that "friendship is
the breathing rose that sweets in every fold."
108
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER VI.
HINTS FOR PROSPECTORS AND
MINERS.
LONDIKE GOLD is found all ihe
way through a frozen deposit of sand,
/X /^i V-"^ gravel and earth from twenty to twen-
"^ ^ ty-five feet thick, resting on bed rock.
This bed rock is said to be shale; depth
unknown. A claim on El Dorado
creek, a tributary of the Klondike,
which paid its owner very handsome-
ly, is 80 feet from rimrock to rimrock,
with a frontage of 500 feet on the creek. After going
through the soil and muck on the surface of the ground,
a bed of gravel mixed with sand sixteen feet thick is
found. This rests upon a four-foot bed of fine and coarse
gravel, which in turn rests on a stratum of fine gravel a
foot and a half thick which tops a stratum, one and one-
half feet of fine black sand.
This black sand rests on bed rock, and is the "pay
dirt" of the Klondike. The 16-foot bed of gravel mixed
with sand paid the miner from 50 cents to $2 a pan; the
4-foot bed of coarse gravel paid him from $2 to $5 a pan.
The stratum of fine gravel beneath paid $1.25 a pan, and
pay dirt yielded all the way from $5 to $50 a ton. The
ground above bed rock is frozen, making it necessary
to resort to "firing" to soften the gravel and sand so chat
it can be lifted to the top. This is the character of the
placer mines of the Klondike.
But it is reported that every paying claim on the Klon-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. lOa
dike is taken. This means that many men who intend to
go to the gold country in the far north in the spring of
1898 must "prospect'' other places. The following pages
are intended as a simple guide to "tenderfeet," or as they
are called in the Klondike country "chechacos." Ex-
perienced prospectors and miners have little use for
guides of any kind, but there are thousands of men who
will see gold in the dirt for the first time in their lives
when they see it in Alaska or the Northwest territories.
In prospecting a country for mineral, two men can do
better than one. A "pardner" is a great help to an ex-
perienced miner even though the "pardner" himself
doesn't know the difference between gold dust and iron
pyrites — the "fool's gold." To a "tenderfoot," a "pard-
ner" is absolutely necessary, even though the "pardner"
himself is another "tenderfoot,'' for two men are better
than one under almost any combination of circumstances.
Gold found in placer mines is free or native gold
brought down from the "mother lode" by the action of
running water or by the glaciers, which ages ago passed
over the land. For this reason, in prospecting a country
for mineral wealth, the sands and rocks of river beds,
in dry creeks and gulches, and at the bottom of valleys
should be searched and examined systematically and
carefully.
The prospector should observe the characteristics of
loose rocks, found in ravines and gulches; in eddies or
dry water holes where heavy matter is left during
freshets, which are of frequent occurrence in a moun-
tainous country; for holes, channels and fissures in solid
rock, over which a stream runs or has run.
If the bed of a river flowing through an open country,
yields fine gold dust, it will probably yield larger dust or
grains nearer the mountains or hills from which it flows;
110 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
if the bed of this river yields grains of gold, the tributar-
ies near the source probably will yield nuggets, for the
heavy particles will sink and be caught in the beds of
streams and rivers first. Sometimes the richest deposits
are found where the current has been broken by a change
of descent or direction.
In a stream which is known to be gold bearing the
prospector will do well to take notice of abrupt turns. If
one side of the stream is a cliff and the other a gentle
slope the latter may be found to be rich in gold deposits.
Sometimes where there are several bends with slopes op-
posite clififs, the slopes will likely give up gold.
The end of a mountain chain offers a likely site for al-
luvial diggings.
When alluvial ground is made up with rather loose
gravel, mixed with boulders or lumps of rock, the gold,
with other heavy substances, will be found underneath
the bulk of the coarse deposits, either next to or near b^^d
rock, or mixed with clay. Thus it is wise to examine the
earthy matter just over the bed rock. If clay is likely to
contain gold it should be washed carefully.
If the flow of water in a stream hinders digging op-
eration, "back trenches" should be cut so that the water
may flow through them, thus diverting the stream from
the site of operation. This will lay the bed bare and the
prospectors can easily remove large rocks or boulders
looking for nuggets and wash the finer gravel with run-
ning water.
To detect free or native gold in rock, sand or gravel, the
samples should be examined by means of a magnifying
glass if the eye is insufficient. The particles of gold, if
present, in the free state generally will be distinct enough
whether wet or dry to be distinguished from discolored
mica, iron or copper pyrites.
NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 113
In whatever direction it is looked at gold presents the
same color, and this is a guiding test to the prospector.
A gold grain picked out from a rock or selected from
sand or gravel can be flattened out by a hammer, and can
be cut in slices.
Those materials most likely to be mistaken for gold are
reduced to powder when pounded.
Iron pyrites is too hard to be cut with a knife; copper
pyrites when pounded makes a greenish powder.
Pyrites ore when heated, smells of sulphur.
Mica when discolored, is frequently mistaken for gold
when discovered by the "tenderfoot;" but it is not easily
cut and has a colorless streak and can thus be easily dis-
tinguished from gold.
It is much easier to distinguish pure or metallic gold in
alluvial deposits than it is to certainly recognize it in rock.
Gold frequently occurs as a fine powder, which even the
magnifying glass will be unable to distinguish, and also
the grains, because of the presence of sulphur or arsenic,
may be coated with a film which makes them unrecogniz-
able to the eye; even making the gold incapable of amal-
gamation with mercury until the material has been
roasted or put through some process. The prospector
in the Yukon district, however, will have little trouble in
recognizing gold when he sees it, for it appears that the
gold is large grained and easily distinguished.
In addition to his "grub pack," the prospector must
provide himself with the few appliances necessary to
wash out the gold. He should have a shovel, hammer,
pick and pan or horn spoon. The pan and horn spoon,
and method of using them, are described hereafter. The
hammer is used when prospecting for mineral veins or
deposits other than alluvial.
The presence of free gold in alluvial deposits, that is
114 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
in matter washed or carried down from his/her ground,
does not necessarily mean that auriferous lodes (gold
bearing rock or cjuartz) are in the immediate vicinity,
but the chances are in favor of lodes being found on ele-
vations of land near the alluvial deposit.
It would be well, then, for the prospector who has
found a "placer mine," to examine neighboring eleva-
tions.
In searching for mineral veins, the general geological
features of the country should be studied. If any roads
are cut through, it would be well to study the character
of the exposed sections. Sides of valleys, landslides,
cliffs and sections cut through by water afford means to
determine the character of the stratification.
If the prospector finds stones or gravel in a valley
which he believes are "likely" to go v/ith gold, he should
follow up the valley, gulch or river bed until he no longei
finds such stones. Then he should search the hill sides
for the mother lode.
Common sense is a good guide for a prospector, and
when common sense suggests that "drifts" would form
naturally, he may come across "out crops" in the steep
sides of gulleys and on ridges.
An examination of the loose or "float" rocks on the
sides of a hill or elevation often will enable the prospector
to make a good "guess" of the nature of an underground
lode. The prospector then, in climbing hills, should look
"all ways" for signs of veins, constantly keeping an out-
look for the kind of rock which is known to form the
matrix (mineral associated with ore in a lode) of a min-
eral vein.
The matrices chiefly are quartz, fluor spar and calc
spar; chiefly quartz.
Quartz, at or near the surface of a lode, often is a
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 115
stained brown, yellow, purple, or other color, due to
decomposed iron or copper pyrites, and frequently is
honey-combed. Quartz scratches glass, but is not
scratched by a file or knife blade. It is nearly pure
silica.
Fluor spar is. purple, at times yellow, white, green or
blue. It is soft. When heated in a dark place it gives
out a phosphorescent glow.
Calc spar is transparent or translucent. It effervesces
when acted on by an acid.
As quartz is nearly always the matrix of mineral veins,
the prospector should look for it.
Gold bearing quartz which has broken away from the
lode, is generally honey-combed, and as gold withstands
weather, the yellow specks may be seen in the cells once
filled with iron or copper pyrites, which have been
"washed out" in the course of years of exposure to the
elements, leaving nothing behind but stains.
One of the best "surface" indications of a gold bearing
lode, is honey-combed rock, brown with iron oxide.
Having traced the brown stained, honey-combed rock
up the hill to the rock from which it was broken, the
prospector should dig a trench at right angles, if possible,
to the lode, that he may examine its character; the nature
of the vein ; the non-metallic rock material in the lode ; to
find the upper or hanging wall, and the lower or foot-
wall, and to ascertain the direction or "strike" of the
lode.
He also should sink a "prospecting" shaft a few feet be-
low the bottom of his trench, to be certain of the inclina-
tion of the lode.
The probable direction of the lode ascertained, the
prospector can sink other shafts higher up or lower down
116 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
on the hill, or the other side of the valley, to test the
cojitinuity of the vein.
If it is possible to take specimens of the ore to an assay
office, it is best to do so, as much labor might be wasted
on low grade ore which, to the eye, looks promising.
But in out-of-the-way places, it is difficult to find
assayers. It is possible, however, for the prospector to
fnid, with approximate certainty, the value of his find if
the metal in the ore is free gold.
Hammer a quantity of the ore with water, until the ore
is reduced to powder, add mercury to the powder;
about one ounce of mercury to eight pounds of ore. If
possible add a little cyanide of potassium. Grind the
whole mass until the gold and mercury form an amal-
gam. Then pour in some water, and when the amalgam
has settled to the bottom, pour off the lighter material,
collect the amalgam, and squeeze it through a buckskin
or canvas bag. Place the rnass left in the bag on a shovel
and hold the shovel over a fire. The heat will drive the
mercury out, leaving the gold behind; then the prospector
can "guess" the value of his find.
Having found his gold mine, placer or lode, and being
satisfied that it is worth holding and working, the pros-
pector should "locate" and "file" his claim.
If the "find" is on Canadian soil, he must proceed ac-
cording to the rules and regulations laid down by the
Canadian authorities. (See Canadian mining laws in this
book.)
If the placer or lode is in Alaska, the regulations of the
United States land office department must be observed.
These regulations are based on the United States
"mineral laws." (See United States mining laws in this
book.) The process is as follows:
A correct survey of the claim must be made under
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 117
authority of the survey-general of the state or territory
in which the claim lies.
The survey must show with accuracy the exterior
boundaries of the claim.
Boundaries must be distinctly marked by monuments
on the ground.
Four plats and one copy of the original field notes, in
each case, will be prepared by the surveyor-general; one
plat and the original field notes, to be retained in tlie
office of the surveyor-general ; one copy of the plat to be
given the claimant for posting upon the claim, one plat
and a copy of the field notes to be given the claimant for
filing with the proper register, to be finally transmitted by
that ofificer, with other papers in the case, to this office,
and one plat to be sent by the surveyor-general to the
register of the proper land district to be retained on his
files for future reference.
The claimant must post a copy of the plat of the survey
in a conspicuous place upon the claim, together with
notice of his intention to apply for a patent.
This notice must give the date of posting, the name of
the claimant, the name of the claim, mine, or lode; the
mining district and county; whether the location is of
record, and, if so, where the record may be found; the
number of feet claimed along the vein, and the presumed
direction thereof; the number of feet claimed on the lode
in each direction from the point of discovery, or other
well-defined place on the claim ; the name or names of ad-
joining claimants on the same or other lodes ; or, if none
adjoin, the names of the nearest claims, etc.
After posting the plat and notice upon the premises,
the claimant must file with the proper register and re-
ceiver a copy of such plat, and the field notes of survey of
the claim, accompanied by the affidavit of at least two
U8 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
credible witnesses, that such plat and notice are posted
conspicuously upon the claim, giving the date and place
of such posting; a copy of the notice so posted to be at-
tached to, and form a part of the affidavit.
Accompanying the field notes so filed must be the
sworn statement of the claimant, that he has the posses-
sory right to the premises therein described, in virtue of
a compliance by himself (and by his grantors, if he claims
by purchase) with the mining rules, regulations, and cus-
toms of the mining district, state or territory in which the
claim lies, and with the mining laws of congress; such
sworn statement to narrate briefly, but as clearly as
possible, the facts constituting such compliance, the
origin of his possession, and the basis of his claim to a
patent.
This af^davit should be supported by appropriate evi-
dence from the mining recorder's office as to his posses-
sory right, as follows, viz.: Where he claims to be the
locator, or a locator in company with others who have
since conveyed their interest in the location to him, a full,
true, and correct copy of such location should be fur-
nished, as the same appears upon the mining records;
such copy to be attested by the seal of the recorder, or if
he has no seal, then he should make oath to the same be-
ing correct, as shown by his records. Where the appli-
cant claims only as a purchaser for valuable considera-
tion, a copy of the location record must be filed under
seal or upon oath as aforesaid, with an abstract of title
from the proper recorder, under seal or oath as aforesaid,
brought down as near as practicable to date of filing the
application, tracing the right of possession by a continu-
ous chain of conveyances from the original locators to the
applicant, also certifying that no conveyances affecting
the title to the claim in question appear of record in his
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 119
office other than those set forth in the accompanying ab-
stract.
In the event of the mining records in any case having
been destroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit of the
fact should be made, and secondary evidence of posses-
sory title will be received, which may consist of tlie
affidavit of the claimant, supported by those of any other
parties cognizant of the facts relative to his location, oc-
cupancy, possession, improvement, etc.; and in such case
of lost records, any deeds, certificates of location or pur-
chase, or other evidence which may be in the claimant's
possession and tend to establish his claim, should be filed.
Upon the receipt of these papers the register will, at
the expense of the claimant (who must furnish the agree-
ment of the publisher to hold applicant for patent alone
responsible for charges of publication), publish a notice
of such application for the period of sixty days in a news-
paper published nearest to the claim, and will post a copy
of such notice in his office for the same period. When a
notice is published in a weekly newspaper ten consecutive
insertions are necessary; when in a daily newspaper the
notice must appear in each issue for sixty-one consecu-
tive issues, the first day of issue being excluded in esti-
mating the period of sixty days.
The notices so published and posted must be as full
and complete as possible, and embrace all the data given
in the notice posted upon the claim.
Too much care cannot be exercised in the preparation
of these notices, inasmuch as upon their accuracy and
completeness will depend, in a great measure, the reg-
ularity and validity of the whole proceeding.
The claimant, either at the time of filing these papers
with the register or at any time during the sixty days'
publication, is required to file a certificate of the surveyor-
120 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
general that not less than $500 worth of labor has been
expended or improvements made upon the claim by the
applicant or his grantors ; that the plat filed by the claim-
ant is correct; that the field notes of the survey, as hied,
furnish such an accurate description of the claim as will,
if incorporated into a patent, serve to fully identify the
premises, and that such reference is made therein to
natural objects or permanent monuments as will per-
petuate and fix the locus thereof.
After the sixty days' period of newspaper publication
has expired, the claimant will furnish from the office of
publication a sworn statement that the notice was pub-
lished for the statutory period, giving the first and last
day of such publication, and his own affidavit showing
that the plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicuously
posted upon the claim sought to be patented during said
sixty days' publication, giving the dates.
Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, if no
adverse claim was filed in his office during the period of
publication, permit the claimant to pay for the land ac-
cording to the area given in the plat and field notes of
survey aforesaid, at the rate of $5 for each acre, and $5
for each fractional part of an acre, the receiver issuing the
usual duplicate receipt therefor. The claimant will also
make a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by
him for publication and surveys, together with all fees
and money paid the register and receiver of the land
office; after which the whole matter will be forwarded to
the commissioner of the general land oiBce and a patent
issued thereon if found regular.
The gold digger's "pan" resembles a frying pan minus
the handle. It is generally circular in form, from 10 to
14 inches in diameter at the bottom, flaring out at the top
to a diameter three or four inches wider. The sides are
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 121
about five inches deep. The pans are made of copper,
pressed steel, sheet iron or stout tin-plate, preferably
pressed steel or copper.
In using the pans a quantity of the dirt to be washed,
say two shovelfuls, is placed in the pan. The pan
should not be filled more than two-thirds of its capacity.
The pan with its contents is then immersed in water either
in a hole or a stream of such a depth that the miner can
easily reach the pan with his hand while it rests on the
bottom. The mass in the pan is stirred up with both
hands so that every particle of it may become thoroughly
mixed with the water and disintegrated.
When the dirt has become thoroughly soaked and
softened by the water so that it is a thin pasty mass, the
pan is taken in both hands, one on either side, and a little
inside of its greatest diameter, that is to say about half
way up from the bottom to the top. Then without tak-
ing it from the water it is held in the hand not quite level,
but tipped somewhat away from the person.
When in this position it is shaken so as to allow the
water to disengage all the light earthy particles and carry
them away. When this has been done there will be left
in the pan gold dust, gold nuggets, heavy sand, lumps of
clay and gravel stone. The gravel stones generally ac-
cumulate on the surface and can be picked off by hand
and thrown aside. The lumps of clay should be crumbled
and reduced by rubbing and "mashing," so as to be
carried off by the water the next time the pan is placed in
the water.
This operation, simple as it appears, really requires
considerable skill, which only can come by practice. A
neat turn of the wrist, and a certain oscillating motion so
as to give somewhat of a whirlpool effect to the water in
the pan are required to cause the muddy matter to escape
122 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
in driblets over the depressed edge of the pan without
sending the Hghter portions of the gold after them. Fre-
quently the prospector washes out his gold by pouring
in water on top of the dirt in his pan, and then shaking it
so that the nuiddy material drips down on to the ground.
But old prospectors say that the best results can be ob-
tained by panning under water.
At last nothing remains in the pan but the gold dust,
with usually some heavy black sand and a little earthy
matter. A careful washing in plenty of clean water will
remove the earthy matter completely ; but the heavy iron
sand cannot be got rid of without the use of a magnet,
mercury or blowing.
Few prospectors, however, carry m.agnets around with
them. If the gold dust is very fine and mercury is ob-
tainable, it is a good plan to put a couple of pounds of
mercury in a bucket of water, and pour in the mixed gold
dust and black sand. The gold will amagamate with the
mercury, and can be secured afterwards by squeezing the
amalgam through buckskin.
A process which proved very effective is heating the
gold and sand on a shovel until the mass is perfectly dry.
The sand then is blown away from the gold, and by care-
fullv regulating the force of the blast, either from the
breath of the operator or from a small pair of bellows, all
of the sand can be blown away, leaving the gold behind.
The horn-spoon is a very simple contrivance used in
some places by prospectors instead of a pan. It is made
by cutting a piece obliquely out of a large ox horn, so as
to give a length of from 8 to lo inches, with an opening
about 3 inches across. The horn is then scraped down
to a suitable thickness. In selecting the horn for this
purpose it is best to use one that is black at one end, as
the o-old can be seen more readily against a black surface.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 123
The horn-spoon is a most useful contrivance, for it is
light and durable and will not take on grease, which
would prevent perfect contact of the water on its surface.
The pan is used where the water supply is insufficient
for a cradle. This apparatus is so called because it bears
in its outward form a resemblance to an ordinary nursery
cradle. It rests on a pair of rockers, and is made to
oscillate just as a cradle is rocked. The cradle generally
is about 40 inches long, 20 inches wide and the back end
rises to the height of 15 inches to 2 feet. The sideboards
of the cradle slope down from the height of the back
board to about a couple of inches at the mouth.
A movable riddle, or hopper, 20 inches square and 6
inches deep, with a bottom of sheet iron perforated closely
with holes one-half inch in diameter, fits neatly and
snugly in the top of the cradle. Belovv? the grating an
apron made of canvas, duck, a piece of blanket, or some
other suitable material, depending upon the material
which the prospector has at hand, is stretched on a frame
work. The apron or curtain slopes down from the mouth
of the cradle towards the bottom of the back board, and
rests on fillets nailed on the sideboards.
On the bottom of the cradle 2 pieces of wood are nailed
from one side to the other, called riffle-bars, each about
three-quarters of an inch high. One rifile-bar is nailed
about the middle of the cradle and the other near the
outer edge. The whole apparatus stands on rockers,
which are cut in a crescent shape, so that the cradle will
rock from side to side.
In practice the pay dirt is thrown into the riddle. If
the miner is working alone he pours water over the dirt
with one hand and rocks his apparatus with the other.
Generally, however, miners work in pairs; one pours and
the other rocks. The rocking stirs up the pay dirt in the
124 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
riddle and the disintegrated mass drops through the holes
at the bottom of the riddle, and falling on the apron, is
carried to the back end of the cradle and thence along the
floor, the water carrying it over the riffle-bars and out of
the mouth.
The cradle is placed so that the hopper end is
about 2| inches higher than the mouth end. Almost
all pay dirt contains gravel and stone of various sizes.
Those which are small enough to pass through the holes
in the riddle will drop through. The larger ones, which
are retained in the riddle, must be picked out by hand and
thrown aside, without, however, stopping the rocking of
the cradle. It is a good thing to leave the small gravel
which has dropped through, to remain on the floor of the
cradle, because they will help the process of breaking up
the earthy matter found in the gravel. When the hopper
has become filled with stones, and all washed clean, they
are tipped out and carefully examined for any nuggets of
gold that may be mixed up with them. A certain pro-
portion of very fine gold dust will be caught and held by
the hairs and fibers of the cloth in the apron, and larger
particles of gold will collect behind the rifHe-bars on the
bed of the cradle.
Two or three times a day, depending of course upon
the nature and richness of the pay dirt, the cradle must
be cleaned up. The hopper is taken out so that the apron
can be withdrawn. The apron is then washed in a bucket
or some other receptacle containing clean water. This
will dislodge the gold dust held in the fiber or hair of the
apron, and it can be recovered from the bottom of the
vessel. The gold and other material which has been
caught by the riffle-bars are scraped out with an iron
spoon.
The scrapings are put in a pan, and the gold then is
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 125
panned out. As water weighs much more than the pay
dirt to the bucket, the pay dirt generally is brought to
the place where the water is, where it is not possible to let
the water flow to the pay dirt by gravity. The cradle
should be set far enough back from the source of the
water supply so as to provide sufficient fall and outlet for
the "pailings." A little pit or well sometimes is dug to
serve as a reservoir near at hand for the miner to ladle out
his water. If it is possible, water should be conveyed to
the hopper through a trough, made by two boards nailed
together "V" shaped. One man working alone can wash
from I to 3 cubic yards of pay dirt a day, depending upon
the clayey nature of the dirt. It is better, however, for
two men to work together, as they can do more than twice
the work of one man.
Cradling is neither economical nor expeditious. Much
fine gold is lost by its use, but it is cheap, requires little
water and is portable. It is not advisable to use mercury
in the cradle. The "long tom" is an improvement on
the cradle. It consists of two troughs or boxes. A Cali-
fornian "tom" is about 12 feet long, 20 inches wide at the
upper end, and 30 inches wide at the mouth. It is sup-
ported on stones or logs, and is worked by two to four
men, according to the nature of the pay dirt and the
supply of water. The apparatus is used only where water
can be brought to it, so that a constant flow is secured.
The spout or water trough leads the water into the
upper box or "tom" proper. The lower end of this box
is cut off obliquely, and the mouth is stopped by a sheet
of iron perforated closely with holes about a half inch in
diameter. The "tom" slants on an angle so that the
upper or spout end is 12 inches higher than the lower or
grating end. The riffle-box, which like the "tom" is
made of rough plank, is placed so that the mass of water,
126 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
sand, fine gravel, clay, and gold falls into its upper end
through the perforations in the grating.
From 5 to 7 riffle-bars are nailed on the bottom of the
riffle-box, and the box is placed on an incline sufficient to
allow the water passing over it to carry off the light
earthy and clayey materials, leaving the gold encased in
the fine mud which will form on the bottom. In some
cases a little mercury is placed behind the riffle-bars to as-
sist in holding the gold, and occasionally a series of blan-
ket aprons are used to catch the fine gold that will go
through with the tailings.
The stream of water flows continuously. The dirt is
thrown into the "tom" or upper trough by one man, while
his partner stirs it about with a square edged shovel or a
blunt pronged fork. The floor of the "tom" is covered
with sheet-iron, tin, or any sheet metal which may be at
hand, to save wear and tear of the floor. The grating
prevents the heavy stones and gravel from passing
through. The "long toms" are cleaned up periodically,
and the gold or amalgam, in case mercury is used, is
panned out.
Sluices can be used only vvhere there is an abundant
supply of water. Sluices are of two kinds ; the box-sluice,
which is raised above the surface necessitating the rais-
ing of pay dirt into them; the ground sluice, which is
generally sunk below the surface. The box-sluice is a
long wooden trough or a series of troughs, varying from
50 feet to several thousand feet in length. The width is
never less than 12 inches, nor more than 60 inches;
generally 16 to 18 inches. The height of the sides varies
from 8 to 12 inches.
A sluice is made up in sections, each from 12 to 14 feet
long. Each section is built of one and an inch rough
plank, and one end is made wider than the other so that
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 127
the sections can be fitted or telescoped into each other
as a stovepipe is made up. The trout,'/''s rest on trestles
and are down grade all the way from pay dirt. The slant
or incline varies from 8 to i8 inches for every running
foot of trough. A fall of 8 inches is called an "8-inch
grade," lo inches a lo-inch grade. The shorter the sluice
the smaller the grade should be, as there is more danger
or fine gold being lost in a short than in a long sluice.
The nature of the ground, the supply of water and the
character of the material in which the gold is found must
determine the grade of the sluice. If the clay [" tough
and balls easily, the grade should be steep. In general
it may be said the steeper the grade the more quickly the
dirt is dissolved in the water. But at the same time the
force of the water is more likely to carry away the fine
gold.
Ordinary pay dirt generally is completely dissolved
in a moderately low grade sluice in the first 200 feet of
flow. Any extra length added to this is useful only to
catch the finer gold. In such case this length is of a
much lower grade, that is, less slanting than the working
part of the sluice. When the incline of a sluice is slight
gold is easily caught, and much of it will be caught on the
smooth floor of the sluice without the aid of riiSe-bars.
Where there are plenty of stones, a number of them may
be placed at the mouth of each section of a sluice to pre-
vent the bottom from being "run bare."
Generally, however, a false bottom is used in the sluice,
designed not only to catch, but to save the wear and tear
on the fioor of the sluice itself. In California false bot-
toms are made of riflie-bars, which run lengthwise with
the sluice about 6 feet long, 3 to 7 inches wide and 2 to 4
inches thick; 2 sets for each length of sluice. They are
128 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
kept in place by cross-pieces, which wedge them down
against the side of the trough.
The false bottoms are not nailed down to the sluice as
they must be removed at every cleaning up. The gold
and other heavy material fall through this false floor sink-
ing through the lighter material to the box floor. A
modification of the false bottom is the block and zig-zag
riffles. False bottoms generally wear away in a week
or less if there is a great quantity of pebbles and boulders
in the pay dirt.
Where such material is handled it is best to use block
riffles. The wood for block riffles is cut across the grain
so that the fibers stand upright in the sluice box, as in the
tree. Zig-zag riffles consist of bars which are nailed to
the bottom of the sluice at an angle of 45 degrees to the
side, reaching diagonally across to within an inch of the
other side. Such gold and heavy materials as are not
completely caught in this zig-zag course are caught with
a supplemental stretch of ordinary longitudinal riffles.
A ground sluice is nothing more nor less than a gutter
or ditch excavated in the ground, and it is only used when
lumber cannot be obtained for making a board sluice or
when the amount of water available is not sufficient for
a continuous supply for a box sluice. It sometimes
happens that a heavy fall of rain will furnish a head of
water for a short time, but not long enough to pay for
building a box sluice. Under such conditions the miner
resorts to the ground sluice, provided he has enough
fall and outlet for the tailings.
A ground sluice will use up 6 times as much water as a
box sluice to do the same amount of work. The gutter
is formed partly by taking the stream through it, assisted
by loosening the earth with a pick; when the gutter is
made the pay dirt is eitEer washed into it by the stream it-
DIAGRAM SHOWING SECTION OF PLACER CLAIM 14, ON
EL DORADO CREEK, KLONDIKE DISTRICT.
CALr^OTff^iAN fvmP
MINERS PAN, CRADLE, LONG TOM, AND PUMP.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 131
self or carried by the miners. If the miner is fortunate
enough to have a hard and uneven bed rock for the bot-
tom of his ground shiice, the rough floor will be enough,
in itself, to hold the gold, but boulders and heavy stones,
too large to be moved by the water, can be thrown in hap-
hazard on the bottom of the ground sluice to take the
place of riffle-bars. Of course no mercury is used.
The process of cleaning up a ground sluice is started by
diverting the water from the channel. Then the gold
with its sand is collected and is panned out or else washed
through a cradle or a "long tom," or a short box-sluice.
Riffle-bars, boulders and blankets will catch a large
percentage of gold in pay dirt; probably all of the heavy
part of gold, but a large amount of fine gold would es-
cape were it not for the use of mercury. Mercury acts
upon gold as a magnet does upon iron. Mercury in the
presence of gold forms an amalgam. It is used in sluices
in various ways. When zig-zag riffle-bars are used, a
vessel containing quicksilver is placed near the head
of the sluice. A tiny hole in the vessel permits the mer-
cury to escape in minute portions. It trickles down from
riffle to riffle, overtakes the gold and forms an amalgam,
which is caught in the longitudinal riffles near the end of
the sluices.
In the ordinary sluice, where the riffle-bars are placed
lengthwise, mercury is poured in at the head of the sluice
about two hour's after the washing is started. The mer-
cury finds its way down slowly, but remains generally
in the upper boxes. On this account small portions are
introduced at intervals lower down ; the amount being in-
creased according to the amount of fine gold present.
Where the gold is exceedingly fine copper plates are
used. A plate will measure 3 feet wide and 6 feet long,
and sometimes the stream is divided and carried over
7
132 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
several plates. The plate is placed nearly level and at a
good distance from the head of the sluice, as it is used
only for catching the finest gold dust, A sheet-iron
screen, perforated with slits one-half inch long and a
sixteenth of an inch wide, is placed in front of the copper
plate, so that only the finest particles of gold will pass
over the plate.
The copper is amalgamated as follows: A weak nitric
acid is washed over the upper surface, and then some
mercury, which has been treated with dilute nitric acid to
form a little nitrate of mercury, is applied on the surface
of the copper. If this amalgamation is well performed
once it need not be repeated, as it will only require some
fresh mercury to be dropped on it as fast as the gold con-
verts it into amalgam. The flow of water should be slow
and shallow so that every bit of gold can come in con-
tact with the face of the plate.
Sometimes a newly amalgamated plate becomes coated
with a green slime (due to the formation of subsalts of
copper), and then is incapable of absorbing the gold.
This slime must be scraped ofif carefully, and the scraped
spots must be rubbed with fresh mercury. To remove
the amalgam, the plate is taken up and heated to a degree
which will make the copper plate uncomfortably warm.
This will soften and loosen the amalgam, which then can
be easily scraped off. The copper is then allowed to cool
and again is rubbed with a little ordinary mercury. The
copper should not be less than one-sixteenth of an inch
thick, and as the mercury makes it brittle as glass it must
be handled with considerable care.
The process of cleaning of gold, mercury and amalgam
caught in a sluice is as follows: Cleaning up generally
is effected after every 6 or 7 days' run. The miner, when
he is ready to clean up, stops feeding in pay dirt, but lets
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 133
the watef run through the shiice boxes until it comes out
in a clear stream. Beginning at the head of the sluice the
first 5 or 6 sets of riffle-bars are lifted out of the boxes.
Some of the dirt will be dislodged. This is washed down
into the next set of boxes and the mass of heavy gold, and
black sand and clay, or other materials caught in the first
set of boxes, is scraped out with a spoon. The next sets
then are treated the same way and so on until the end of
the sluice.
The amalgam and mercury taken out are placed in a
buckskin or canvas bag, where it is subjected to pres-
sure; either squeezed between the hands or placed under
a weight. The excess of mercury will be forced through
the pores of buckskin or canvas into a vessel placed be-
neath to catch it. The amalgam remaining is sponge-
like in texture and is largely pure gold. The gold is
separated from the amalgam and the mercury by plac-
ing the amalgam in a retort and subjecting it to the heat.
The California pump was used wdth great success by
placer miners in the golden state. It is what might be
called a chain pump. A rectangular box lo inches wide
and 3 inches high inside measurement, and from lo to 30
feet long, is traversed by an endless flexible belt or band
of canvas. On one side of the belt pieces of wood, just
enough smaller than the inside of the box to permit clear-
ance, are nailed to the canvas. At the lower end of the
box, which dipped into the water, is a roller around which
the belt passes. At the upper end the belt passes around
a second roller or drum, which is made to revolve by a
crank.
The faces of the blocks, which are called buckets or
suckers, are covered with leather which projects some-
what beyond the edges of the wood. In operation the
miner causes the drum at the upper end of the box to re-
184 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
volve. This puts the canvas belt in motion and the
buckets, catching the water of the stream, carry it up
through the water-box, emptying it out into the reservoir
or cradle, "long torn" or short box-sluice. Such pumps
are exceedingly useful where the gold-bearing earth is
high up on the banks of a ravine or in the side of a gulch.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 135
CHAPTER VII.
UNITED STATES MINING LAWS.
#7^—^11^ LAND district of Alaska was created
'''T>^^==^i,"J by act of congress May 17, 1884, and
the land commissioner was made ex-
ofificio register of the land office; and
the marshal of the district was made
ex-ofificio surveyor-general of the
district. That portion of the act pro-
viding a civil government in Alaska,
which is of direct interest to gold seekers in Alaska, reads
as follows:
'*Sec. 8. That the said district of Alaska is hereby cre-
ated a land district, and a United States land office for
said district is hereby located at Sitka. The commissioner
provided for by this act to reside at Sitka shall be ex-ofii-
cio register of said land office, and the clerk provided for
by this act shall be ex-officio receiver of public moneys,
and the marshal provided for by this act shall be ex-officio
surveyor-general of said district, and the laws of the
United States relating to mining claims, and the rights
incident thereto, shall, from and after the passage of this
act, be in full force and effect in said district, under the
administration thereof herein provided for, subject to
such regulations as may be made by the secretary of the
interior, approved by the president: Provided, That the
Indians or other persons in said district shall not be dis-
turbed in the possession of any lands actually in their use
or occupation or now claimed by them, but the terms
under which such persons may acquire title to such lands
136 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
is reserved for future legislation by congress: And pro-
vided further, That parties who have located mines or
mineral privileges therein under the laws of the United
States applicable to the public domain, or who have oc-
cupied and improved or exercised acts of ownership over
such claims, shall not be disturbed therein, but shall be
allowed to perfect their title to such claims by payment
as aforesaid: And provided also, That the land not ex-
ceeding six hundred and forty acres at any station now
occupied as missionary stations among the Indian tribes
in said section, with the improvements thereon erected
by or for such societies, shall be continued in the occu-
pancy of the several religious societies to which said mis-
sionary stations respectively belong until action by
congress. But nothing contained in this act shall be con-
strued to put in force in said district the general laws of
i the United States."
■^ Land ofBce regulations providing for the administra-
tion of the mining laws, as prescribed by the regulations
of the land office, will be adopted for and extended to
Alaska as far as applicable.
Under section 2318 of the United States law, all lands,
valuable for minerals, are reserved from sale, except as
otherwise expressly directed by law.
License to explore, occupy and purchase mineral lands
A is authorized as follows:
"Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands be-
longing to the United States, both surveyed and unsur-
veyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to explora-
tion and purchase, and the lands in which they are found
to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United
States and those who have declared their intention to be-
come such, under regulations prescribed by law, and ac-
cording to the local customs or rules of miners in the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 137
several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable
and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States."
Locators must show proof of citizenship or an inten-
tion to become citizens. This may be done as provided
in the following section:
"Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this chapter,
may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affi-
davit thereof; in the case of an association of persons
unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent,
made on his own knowledge, or upon information and be-
lief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the
laws of the United States, 01 of any state or territory
thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or
certificate of incorporation."
^ The Supreme Court of the United States has defined
the term "placer claim" as "Ground within defined boun-
daries which contains mineral in its earth, sand or gravel ;
ground that includes valuable deposits not in place, that
is, not fixed in rock, but which are in a loose state, and
may in most cases be collected by washing or amalgama-
tion without milling."
The section relating to "placer claims" defines "placer"
as follows :
"Section 2329. Claims usually called 'placer,' including
all forms of deposits, excepting veins of quartz, or other
rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under
like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar pro-
ceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but
where the lands have been previously surveyed by the
United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall con-
form to the legal subdivisions of the public lands."
:. In locating "placer claims" the law provides that no
location of such claim upon surveyed ground shall in-
clude more than twenty acres for each individual claim-
138 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ant. The Supreme Court, however, has held that one
individual can hold as many locations as he can purchase
and rely upon his possessory title; that a separate patent
for each location is unnecessary. The United States law
relating to placer claims reads as follows:
"Section 2329. Claims usually called 'placer,' including
ing all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or
other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent,
under like circumstances and conditions, and upon sim-
ilar proceedings, as arc provided for vein or lode claims;
but where the lands have been previously surveyed by
the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall
conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands."
"Section 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may
be subdivided into ten-acre tracts ; and two or more per-
sons, or associations of persons, having contiguous
claims of any size, although such claims may be less than
ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no
location of a placer-claim, made after the ninth day of
July, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall exceed one
hundred and sixty acres for any one person or associa-
tion of persons, which location shall conform to the
United States surveys; and nothing in this section con-
tained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre-emption
or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or author-
ize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler
to any purchaser."
"Section 2331. Where placer-claims are upon sur-
veyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further
survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining
claims located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-two, shall conform as near as prac-
ticable with the United States system of public-land sur-
veys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such survevs.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. Tdd
and no such location shall include more than twenty acres
for each individual claimant; but where placer-claims
can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and
plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where
by the segregation of mineral lands in any legal subdi-
vision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres
remains, such fractional portions of agricultural land may
be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead
or pre-emption purposes."
The following section relates to the application for a
patent for lode and placer claims:
"Section 2335. A patent for any land claimed and
located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the fol-
lowing manner: Any person, association, or corporation
authorized to locate a claim under this chapter, having
claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes,
who has, or have, complied with the terms of this chap-
ter, may file in the proper land-ofBce an application for
a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together
with a plat and field-notes of the claim or claims in com-
mon, made by or under the direction of the United States
surveyor-general, showing accurately the boundaries of
the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by
monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such
plat, together wnth a notice of such application for a
patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in
such plat previous to the filing of the application for a
patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least tw^o persons
that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a
copy of the notice in such land ofhce, and shall thereupon
be entitled to a patent for the land in the manner follow-
ing: The register of the land office, upon the filing of
such application, plat, field notes, notices, and affidavits,
shall publish a notice that such application has been
140 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be
by him designated as published nearest to such claim;
and he shall also post such notice in his office for the
same period. The claimant at the time of filing this
application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty
days of publication, shall file with the register a certifi-
cate of the United States surveyor-general that five hun-
dred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or im-
provements made upon the claim by himself or grantors;
that the plat is correct, with such further description by
such reference to natural objects or permanent monu-
ments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate
description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the
expiration of the sixty days of publication the claimant
shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice
have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim dur-
ing such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall
have been filed with the register and the receiver of the
proper land-office at the expiration of the sixty days of
publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is
entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper offi-
cer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim
exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties
to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be
shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the
terms of this chapter."
^ Locators on placer claims which contain lodes are
brought within the provisions of the following section:
"Section 2333. Where the same person, association,
or corporation is in possession of a placer claim, and also
a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof,
application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim,
with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and
in such case a patent shall issue for a placer claim, sub-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 141
ject to the provisions of this chapter, inchiding such vein
or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for
such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface
on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim,
or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim,
shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents
per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and
where a vein or lode, such as is described in section
2320 is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer
claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim
which does not include an application for the vein or lode
claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that
the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession
of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a
vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent
for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and
other deposits within the boundaries thereof."
\ The land office regulations relating to placer claims
containing lodes read as follows:
"Applicants for patent to a placer claim who are also
in possession of a known vein or lode included therein
must state in their application that the placer includes
such vein or lode. The published and posted notices
must also include such statement. If veins or lodes lying
within a placer location are owned by other parties the
fact should be distinctly stated in the application for
patent and in all the notices. But in all cases whether
the lode is claimed or excluded, it must be surveyed and
marked upon the plat; the field notes and plat giving the
area of the lode claim or claims and the area of the placer
separately. It should be remembered that an application
which omits or includes an application for a known vein
or lode therein, must be construed as a conclusive decla-
ration that the apphcant has no right of possession to
142 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
the vein or lode. Where there is no known lode or vein
the fact must appear by the affidavit of two or more wit-
nesses."
The section of the United States law relating to "lode"
claims reads as follows:
"Section 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of
quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinna-
bar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits here-
tofore located, shall be governed as to length along the
vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force
at the date of their location. A mining claim located
after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-
two, whether located by one or more persons, may equal,
but shall not exceed one thousand five hundred feet in
length along the vein or lode ; but no location of a mining
claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode
within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall
extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the
middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be
limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five
feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface,
except where adverse rights existing on the tenth day of
May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, render such lim-
itation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be
parallel to each other."
"Section 2322. The locators of all mining locations
heretofore made or which shall hereafter be made, on any
mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public do-
main, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim
exists on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and
seventy-two, so long as they comply with the laws of
the United States, and with state, territorial, and local
regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United
States governing their possessory title, shall have the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. W6
exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all
the surface included within the lines of their loca-
tions, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges through-
out their entire depth, the top or apex of which
lies inside of such surface lines extended downward ver-
tically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far
depart from a perpendicular in their course downward
as to extend outside the vertical side lines of such surface
locations. But their right of possession to such outside
parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such
portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn
downward as above described, through the end lines of
their locations, so continued in their own direction that
such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins
or ledges. And nothing in this section shall authorize the
locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in
its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim
to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed
by another."
^ The United States law permits miners of each mining
district to make regidations governing location, manner
of recording, etc., so long as the rules and regulations
do not conflict with the federal statutes. The section giv-
ing this permission reads as follows:
"Section 2324. The miners of each mining district
may make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the
United States, or with the laws of the state or territory in
which the district is situated, governing the location,
manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold
possession of a mining claim, subject to the following
requirements: The location must be distinctly marked
on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily
traced. All records of mining claims hereafter made shall
contain the name or names of the locators, the date of
144 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
the location, and such a description of the claim or claims
tocated by reference to some natural object or perma-
nent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim
located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and
seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued therefor,
not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall
be performed or improvements made during each year.
On all claims located prior to the tenth day of May,
eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars' worth
of labor shall be performed or improvements made
by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and
seventy-four, and each year thereafter, for each one
hundred feet in length along the vein, until a patent
has been issued therefor; but where such claims
are held in common, such expenditure may be made
upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply
with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such
failure occurred shall be opened to relocation in the same
manner as if no location of the same had ever been made;
Provided, that the original locators, their heirs, assigns,
or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the
claim after failure and before such location. Upon the
failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his
proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-
owners who have performed the labor or made the im-
provements may, at the expiration of the year, give such
delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice
by publication in the newspaper published nearest the
claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at
the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing
or by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse
to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required
by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the
property of his co-owners, who have made the expendi-
tures."
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 145
Other sections of the United States law relating to
mines and mining are as follows:
"Section 2323. Where a tunnel is run for the develop-
ment of a vein or lode or for the discovery of mines, the
owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession
of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the
face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously
known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same
extent as if discovered from the surface ; and locations on
the line of such tunnels of veins or lodes, not appearing
on the surface, made by other parties after the com-
mencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being
prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid;
but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six
months shall be considered as an abandonment of the
right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel."
"Section 2332. Where such person or association,
they and their grantors, have held and worked their
claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the
statute of limitations for mining claims of the state or
territory where the same may be situated, evidence of
such possession and working of the claims for such period
shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto
under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim;
but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair
any lien which may have attached in any way whatever
to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior
to the issuance of a patent."
"Section 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed dur-
ing the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the
person or persons making the same, and shall show the
nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and
all proceedings, except the publication of notice and mak-
ing and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed
146 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
until the controversy shall have been settled or decided
by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse
claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claim-
ant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to com-
mence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction,
to determine the question of the right of possession, and
prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final
judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his
adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been ren-
dered the party entitled to the possession of the claim,
or any portion thereof, may, without giving further no-
tice, file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the
register of the land ofifice, together with the certificate
of the surveyor general that the requisite amount of labor
has been expended or improvements made thereon, and
the description required in other cases, and shall pay to
the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together
with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings
and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to
the commissioner of the general land office, and a patent
shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof
as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the
court, to rightly possess. If it appears from the decision
of the court that several parties are entitled to separate
and different portions of the claim, each party may pay for
his portion of the claim with the proper fees and file the
certificate and description by the surveyor general, where-
upon the register shall certify the proceedings and judg-
ment-roll to the commissioner of the general land office,
as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the
several parties according to their respective rights. Noth-
ing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the
alienation of a title conveyed by a patent for a mining
claim to any person whatever."
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS.
149
CHAPTER VIII.
CANADIAN MINING LAWS.
INERS in the Klondike region must
pay the Canadian government an en-
try fee of $15 for the first year, and
an annual fee of $100 for each of the
following years. No miner will re-
ceive a grant for more than one min-
ing claim in the same locality, but
the same miner may hold any num-
ber of claims by purchase.
The Dominion government pro-
poses to charge a royalty for the use of its land by gold
miners. This royalty will amount to 10 per cent on all
amounts taken out of any one claim up to $500 a week,
and over that output 20 per cent. The royalty will be
collected on gold taken from streams already being
worked, but in regard to all future discoveries, the govern-
ment proposes that upon every river and creek where
mining locations shall be staked out, every alternate claim
shall be the property of the crown.
The regulations governing placer mining along the
Yukon river and its tributaries in the Northwest terri-
tory, adopted by the Canadian government, are as fol-
lows :
DEFINITIONS:
BAR DIGGINGS shall mean any part of a river over
which the water extends when the water is in its flooded
state, and which is not covered at low' water.
8
150 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
MINES ON BENCHES shall be known as bench
diggings, and shall for the purpose of defining the
size of such claims be excepted from dry diggings.
DRY DIGGINGS shall mean any mine over which
a river never extends.
MINER shall mean a male or female over the age of
1 8, but not under that age.
CLAIMS shall mean the personal right of property in
a placer mine or diggings during the time for which the
grant of such mine or diggings is made.
LEGAL POST shall mean a stake standing not less
than four feet above the ground and squared on four
sides for at least one foot from the top. Both sides so
squared shall measure at least four inches across the face.
It shall also mean any stump or tree cut off and squared
or faced to the above height and size.
CLOSE SEASON shall mean the period of the year
during which placer mining is generally suspended. The
period to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose
district the claim is situated.
LOCALITY shall mean the territory along a river
(tributary of the Yukon), and its affluents.
MINERAL shall include all minerals whatsoever other
than coal.
NATURE AND SIZE OF CLAIMS.
FIRST — Bar diggings: A strip of land loo feet wide
at high watermark and thence extending" along into the
river to its lovvcst water level.
SECOND — The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall
be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right
angles to the stream and shall be marked by four legal
posts, one at each end of the claim at or about high water-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 151
mark, also one at each end of the claim at or about the
edge of the water. One of the posts at high watermark
shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and
the date upon which the claim is staked.
THIRD — Dry diggings shall be lOO feet square and
shall have placed at each of its four corners a legal post,
upon one of which shall be legibly marked the name of
the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.
FOURTH — Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet
long, measured in direction of the general course of the
stream, and shall extend in width from base to base of
the hill or bench on each side, but when the hill or
benches are less than 100 feet apart, the claim may be
100 feet in depth. The sides of a claim shall be two
parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to
the stream. The sides shall be marked with legal posts
at or about the edge of the water, and at the rear boun-
daries of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream
shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and
the date upon which the claim was staked.
Note. — The regulation relating to the length of a
claim was amended Aug. 8, by the dominion government;
the new regulation limits the length of a claim to 100
feet, running along the stream.
FIFTH — Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.
SIXTH — In defining the size of claims, they shall be
measured horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the
surface of the ground.
SEVENTH — If any person or persons shall discover
a new mine, and such discovery shall be established to
the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, a claim for the
bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted.
A new stratum of auriferous earth or gravel situated in
a locality where the claims are abandoned shall, for this
152 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
purpose, be deemed a new mine, although the same lo-
caHty shall have previously been worked at a different
level.
EIGHTH — The forms of application for a grant for
placer mining and the grant of the same shall be those
contained in forms "H" and "I" in the schedule hereto.
NINTH — A claim shall be recorded with the gold com-
missioner in whose district it is situated within three
days after the location thereof, if it is located within ten
miles of the commissioner's offtce. One extra day shall
be allowed for making such record for every additional
ten miles and fraction thereof.
TENTH — In the event of the absence of the gold
commissioner from his office, entry for a claim may be
granted by any person whom he may appoint to perform
his duties in his absence.
ELEVENTH — Entry shall not be granted for a claim
which has not been staked by the applicant in person, in
the manner specified in these regulations. An affidavit
that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be
embodied in form "H" of the schedule hereto.
TWELFTH— An entry fee of $15 shall be charged the
first year and an annual fee of $100 for each of the follow-
ing years. This provision shall apply to the locations for
which entries have already been granted.
THIRTEENTH— After the recording of a claim, the
removal of any post by the holder thereof, or any person
acting in his behalf, for the purpose of changing the boun-
daries of his claim, shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.
FOURTEENTH — The entry of every holder for a
grant for placer mining must be renewed, and his receipt
relinquished and replaced every year, the entry fee being
paid each year.
FIFTEENTH — No miner shall receive a grant for
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 153
more than one mining claim in the same locality; but the
same miner may hold any number of claims by purchase,
and any number of miners may unite to work their claims
in common upon such terms as they may arrange, pro-
vided such agreement be registered with the gold com-
missioner and a fee of $5 paid for each registration.
SIXTEENTH — Any miner or miners may sell, mort-
gage, or dispose of his or their claims, provided such dis-
posal be registered with, and a fee of $2 paid to the gold
commissioner, who shall thereupon give the assignee a
certificate in form "J" in the schedule hereto.
SEVENTEEXTH— Every miner shall, during the
continuance of his grant, have the exclusive right of entry
upon his own claim for the miner-like working thereof,
and the construction of a residence thereon, and shall
be entitled exclusively to all the proceeds realized there-
from ; but he shall have no surface rights therein, and the
gold commissioner may grant to the holders of adjacent
claims such rights of entry thereon as may be absolutely
necessary for the working of their claims, upon such
terms as may to him seem reasonable. He may also
grant permits to miners to cut timber thereon for their
own use, upon payment of the dues prescribed by the
regulations in that behalf.
EIGHTEENTH— Every miner shall be entitled to the
use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or
past his claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, as
shall in the opinion of the gold commissioner, be neces-
sary for the due working thereof, and shall be entitled to
drain his own claim free of charge.
XIXETEEXTH— A claim shall be deemed to be aban-
doned and open to occupation and entry by any per-
son when the same shall have remained unworked on
working days by the grantee thereof or by some person
154 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
on his behalf for the space of seventy-two hours, unless
sickness or other reasonable cause may be shown to the
satisfaction of the gold commissioner, or unless the gran-
tee is absent on leave given by the commissioner, and the
gold commissioner, upon obtaining evidence satisfactory
to himself that this provision is not being complied with,
may cancel the entry given for a claim.
TWENTIETH — If the land upon which a claim has
been located is not the property of the crown it will be
necessary for the person who applies for entry to furnish
proof that he has acquired from the owner of the land
the surface right before entry can be granted.
TWENTY-FIRST— If the occupier of the lands has
not received a patent therefor, the purchase money of
the surface rights must be paid to the crovv'n, and a patent
of the surface rights will issue to the party who acquired
the mining rights. The money so collected will either be
refunded to the occupier of the land when he is entitled
to a patent therefor, or will be credited to him on account
of payment for land.
TWENTY-SECOND— When the party obtaining the
mining rights cannot make an arrangement with the
owner thereof for the acquisition of the surface rights it
shall be lawful for him to give notice to the owner or
his agent, or the occupier to appoint an arbitrator to
act with another arbitrator named by him in order to
award the amount of compensation to which the owner
or occupant shall be entitled. The notice mentioned in
this section shall be according to form to be obtained
upon application from the gold commissioner for the dis-
trict in which the lands in question lie, and shall, when
practicable, be personally served on such owner or his
agent, if known, or occupant, and after reasonable efforts
have been made to effect personal service without sue-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 155
cess, then swoh notice shall be served upon the owner or
agent within a period to be fixed by the gold commis-
sioner before the expiration of the time limited in such
notice. If the proprietor refuses or declines to appoint
an arbitrator, or when, for any other reason, no arbitrator
is appointed by the proprietor in the time limited there-
for in the notice provided by this section, the gold com-
missioner for the district in which the lands in question
lie shall, on being satisfied by affidavit that such notice
has come to the knowledge of such owner, agent or oc-
cupant, or that such owner, agent or occupant, willfully
evades the service of such notice, or cannot be found, and
that reasonable efforts have been made to effect such ser-
vice, and that the notice was left at the last place of
abode of such owner, agent or occupant, appoint an ar-
bitrator on his behalf. ^
TWENTY-THIRD— (a) All arbitrators appointed un-
der the authority of these regulations shall be sworn be-
fore a justice of the peace to the impartial discharge of the
duties assigned to them, and they shall forthwith proceed
to estimate the reasonable damages which the owner or
occupant of such lands according to their several interests
therein shall sustain by reason of such prospecting and
mining operations.
(b) In estimating such dam.ages the arbitrators shall
determine the value of the land, irrespectively of any en-
hancement thereof from the existence of mineral therein.
(c) In case such arbitrators cannot agree they may select
a third arbitrator, and when the two arbitrators cannot
agree upon a third arbitrator, the gold commissioner for
the district in which the lands in question lie shall select
such third arbitrator.
(d) The award of any two such arbitrators made in
156 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
writing shall be final, and shall be filed \\ itli the golJ com-
missioner for the district in which the lands lie.
If any cases arise for which no provision is made in
these regulations, the provisions of the regulations gov-
erning the disposal of mineral lands other than coal lands
approved by his excellency the governor in council on
the 9th of November, 1889, shall apply.
CERTIFICATE OF ASSIGNMENT OF A PLACER
MINING CLAIM.
Form "J."
No
Department of the Interior.
Agency 18. . . .
This is to certify that (B. C.) has (or have) filed an as-
signment in due form dated 18. . . .
and accompanied by a registration fee of two dollars, of
the grant to (A. B.) of
of the right to mine in
(insert description of claim) for
one year from 18 ... .
This certificate entitles the said
(B. C.) to all rights and privileges of the said
(A. B.) in respect of the claim assigned, that is to say, the
exclusive right of entry upon the said claim for the miner-
like working thereof and the construction of a residence
thereon, and the exclusive right to all proceeds there-
from for the remaining portion of the year for which
said claim was granted to the said
(A. B.), that is to say, until the 18
The said (B. C.) shall be en-
titled to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing
\\ k \ \
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 16»
through or past his (or their) claim, and not already law-
fully appropriated, as shall be necessary for the due work-
ing thereof, and to drain the claim free of charge.
This grant does not convey to the said
(B. C) any surface rights in said claim
or any rights of ownership in the soil covered by the said
claim, and the said grant shall lapse and be forfeited un-
less the claim is continually and in good faith worked
by the said (B. C.) or his (or their) associates.
The rights hereby granted are those laid down in the
Dominion Mining Regulations, and are subject to all
provisions of the said regulations whether the same are
expressed herein or not.
Gold Commissioner.
APPLICATION FOR GRANT FOR PLACER MIN-
ING CLAIM AND AFFIDAVIT OF
APPLICANT.
Form "H."
I, (or we) of hereby apply
under the Dominion Mining Regulations for grant of a
claim for placer mining as defined in the said regulations
in (here describe locality)
and I (or we) solemnly swear:
First — That I (or we) am (or are) to the best of my
(or our) knowledge and belief, the first discoverer (or dis-
coverers) of the said deposit, or
Second — That the said claim was previously granted
to (here name the last grantee), but has re-
m.ained unworked by the said grantee for not less than
160 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Third — That I (or vvc) am (or are) unaware that the
land is other than vacant Dominion lands.
Fourth — That I (or we) did on the day
of mark out on the ground in accordance
in every particular with the provisions of the mining
regulations for the Yukon river and its tributaries, the
claim for which I (or we) make this application, and that
in so doing I (or we) did not encroach on any other claim
or mining location previously laid out by any other per-
son.
Fifth — That the said claim contains as nearly as I (or
we) could measure or estimate an area of
square feet, and that the description (and sketch, if any)
of this date hereto attached signed by me (or us) sets (or
set) forth in detail to the best of my (or our) knowledge
and ability its position, form and dimensions.
Sixth — That I (or we) make this application in good
faith to acquire the claim for the sole purpose of mining,
prosecuted by myself (or us), or by myself and associates,
or by my (or our) assigns.
Sworn before me
At this day of
i8....
(Signature)
GRANT FOR PLACER CLAIM.
Form "L"
Department of the Interior.
Agency i8. . . .
In consideration of the payment of the fee prescribed
by clause 12 of the mining regulations of the Yukon river
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 161
and its tributaries by (A. B.)
accompanying his (or their) appHcation No
dated i8. . . . for a mining claim
in (here insert description of local-
ity), the minister of the interior hereby grants to the said
(A. B.) for the term of one
year from the date hereof the exclusive right of entry
upon the claim (here describe in detail the claim).
Granted — For the miner-like working thereof and the
construction of a residence thereon, and the exclusive
right to all the proceeds derived therefrom. That the
said (A. B.) shall be entitled to
the use of so much water naturally flowing through or
past his (or their) claim and not already lawfully appro-
priated as shall be necessary for the due working thereof,
and to drain his (or their) claim free of charge.
This grant does not convey to the said
(A. B.) any surface right in the said claim or any right of
ownership in the soil covered by the said claim, and the
said grant shall lapse and be forfeited unless the claim is
continuously and in good faith worked by the said
(A. B.) or his (or their) asso-
ciates.
The rights hereby granted are those laid down in the
aforesaid mining regulations and no more, and are sub-
ject to all the provisions of the said regulations, whether
the same are expressed herein or not.
Gold Commissioner.
162 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER IX.
RICHNESS OF THE PLACER MINES.
IILLIAM D. JOHNS of Chicago, a
special correspondent of the CHI-
CAGO RECORD, who has been in
Alaska for two years, was at Circle
City, Alaska, when the news of the
gold strike of the Klondike reached
the miners of that town. His letter,
detailing the richness of the field, and
telling of the hardships and successes
of the prospectors, was the first letter from a newspaper
correspondent to reach the outside world. It was
brought to San Francisco by the Excelsior, the vessel
which brought the first of the returning and successful
miners home. It was as follows:
"Fourteen miles from Dawson City, twelve miles up
Bonanza creek, which empties into the Klondike river
one and one-half miles from the Yukon, gold was dis-
covered by 'Siwash' George Carmack and his two In-
dian brothers-in-law last August. The credit for the dis-
covery really belongs to the Indians. A stampede from
Circle City, Forty Mile and other camps was the result
of this find, but few had much faith in the new region
even after they were on the ground, and in spite of the
rich prospects on the surface it was generally regarded
as a *grub-stake' strike on which any one might succeed
in getting a winter outfit.
"A little later, however, the prospects found on the river
called forth the half-skeptical remark that *if it goes
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 163
down it is the greatest thing on earth.' Then a few
began to beHeve in the new diggings, but many old
miners even yet would not stake out claims, thiulcing
the creek too wide for gold. A number of side gulches
along the Bonanza were staked, among them El Dorado,
which was rich in gravel near the mouth. But so little
faith was manifested in the region that claim holders
could not get 'grub' from the stores in exchange for
their prospects. There was a general fear that these
might be only 'skim diggings.'
"In December bed rock was reached on No. 14 El Dora-
do and fabulously rich pay dirt was found. Then more
h.oles went down in a hurry. Everywhere Avere discov-
ered prospects on bed rock ranging from $5 to $150 to
the pan. The gold was nearly all coarse. Still the great-
ness of the strike was not realized. Some of the best
claims were sold by their owners for a few hundreds or a
few thousands. Drifting was carried on by the usual
winter process of "burning," and the pay dirt taken out
as rapidly as possible under the difficulties of intense
cold.
"Pans as rich as $500 were discovered, and nuggets con-
taining gold worth as high as $235 were brought to light.
Claims jumped up enormously in price, but still many
men sold for a small part of the value of their holdings.
They seemed w^holly unable to realize their good for-
tune. Doubts were still expressed about the dumps hold-
ing out to the prospects.
"Then the test — sluicing — came in the spring when the
ice melted and the water ran down from the hills. Then
the wildest hopes of the toiling miners were realized.
Despite the lateness of commencing work and the
scarcity of men about $1,500,000 was taken out of El
Dorado alone. On some of the richer claims men who
164 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
secured ground to work on shares — 50 per cent — cleared
$5,000 to $10,000 apiece in from thirty days' to two
months' drifting. As high as $150,000 was drifted out
of one claim, the other sums being less. From seventy-
five feet of ground on Nos. 25 and 26, El Dorado, $1 12,-
000 was taken, or $1,500 per running foot, and the pay
not cross-cut, for it frequently runs from vein to vein,
being in places 150 feet wnde.
"Ground has sold here this spring for over $1,000 a
running foot, or at the rate of $500,000 for a claim of
500 feet. Men on whose judgment reliance can be placed
and who base their opinion on what their own ground
and that of others has yielded, tell me that there are
claims here from which over $1,000,000 will come. Last
winter men on 'lays' (percentage) left 50-cent dirt
because they had better in sight and only a limited time
before spring to get out ore. Owing to the large number
of the men on 'lays' the production of almost every claim
is known, and no overstatement is possible, since so
many are interested in the amount of gold produced. As
soon as sluicing was fairly under way the price of claims
jumped again and but few would sell. It might almost
be said that no one would part with a claim on El Dorado.
"On Bonanza, where the pay, except on a few claims,
is not as rich as on El Dorado, owners who had looked
in vain for the $5, $10 and $150 pans, which were plen-
tiful on the rival creek, w^ere disgusted with their moder-
ate gains and were willing to sell. Thus many claims
having 20 to 50 cent dirt and three to seven feet of it
were sold. On the boat which takes this letter down
the Yukon will be many men, some of them having been
in this country only a few months when the strike was
made, who will take with them to the mint from $10,000
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 165
to $500,000, the result either of working the ground or
of selHng out.
"The men who sold were paid ahnost entirely out of
their own ground, the men who bought taking the dumps
and these, when sluiced, paying for the claims and leav-
ing a handsome margin for the purchasers. In some
instances enough gold was rocked out to make a first
payment on the claims before sluicing was possible.
Many of these men, to my personal knowledge, had
neither money nor credit to get 'grub' last fall.
"But those chances are of the past; let no one imagine
that they still exist. Claims are held by their owners
now up in the hundreds of thousands, and those of less
desirable quality are dear in proportion. To get a bar-
gain in a claim is impossible at this stage of the fever
here. One might as well stand on State street now and
think of getting the Palmer house lot at a low rate, be-
cause at some time in the past it was sold for a song.
The value of claims is now clearly known. ]\Iost of
them have passed into second hands, the present owners
paying for them in many cases $20,000, $30,000 or $50,-
000, and holding and working them as straight business
propositions.
"That there will be other fields of gold in other creeks
is likely, but as El Dorado is one of those strikes that
are made only once in about a quarter of a century, it is
extremely unlikely that another will be found in this
region. As the capacity of the river steamers is limited,
and is likely to be taxed to the utmost this year to supply
the necessities of those now here, or already coming in,
with the rigors of the arctic winter before them, and
no provisions, and after September no way of getting
out where they may be had, those thinking of coming
here, attracted by the marvelous richness of the strike,
1G6 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
cannot be too strongly cautioned against making the at-
tempt this season. They can gain nothing, and may
suffer much.
"The Klondike is a stream emptying into the Yukon,
eighty miles above the boundary line of Alaska, in the
British Northwest territory. It is supposed to be about
125 miles long, heading in the Rockies, and is a rapid
river running in a northerly direction. Bonanza ;reek,
coming in one and one-half miles up from the mouth, is
twenty-five miles long, and heads at the Dome, a big
bold hill, as do a number of lesser creeks. It runs south-
westerly. El Dorado comes in twelve miles up, and is
seven miles long, running in the same general direction
as does Bonanza.
"The pay on Bonanza is good from the 6o's below
the point of discover}-, where one claim has 20 and 25
cent dirt, with the pay 125 feet wide, up to No. 43
above, claim No. 41 being very rich. Gold on Bonanza
is finer than that on El Dorado. There is not a blank up
to No. 38, and there are some good claims above that
number. The richest claims are in the middle of the
gulch, the gold there being coarse, with lots of nuggets.
This, with the fractions of claims, makes nearly twenty
miles of paying ground.
"In addition there are a number of side gulches on
which good prospects have been discovered. Bonanza
district, it is estimated, is likely to produce not less than
$50,000,000 in gold, and this is believed to be an under-
estimate than otherwise. Hunker creek empties into the
Klondike twelve miles up and is twenty miles long. In
places $2 and $3 to the pan on bedrock have been found,
and the indications are that it will prove a rich-paying
creek.
"Gold Bottom, a fork, and I^st Chance, a side gulch,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 16»
show up equally well for a considerable distance. These
comprise, with Bear creek, which comes into the Klon-
dike between Bonanza and Hunker, the extent of terri-
tory of which anything certain is known. Quartz creek
and Indian creek" are reached from the heads of Bonanza
and Hunker and they have also some prospects. The
country rock is slate and mica schist. Many of the nug-
gets are full of quartz. Iron rock is found with them,
and pieces of stratified rock containing iron are found
showing plainly on their sides the matrices of gold nug-
gets. SomxC fair gold-bearing quartz has been discovered,
but no rich, free gold-bearing rock in place. The mineral
belt seems to run northeast and southwest, if one may
judge from the creeks, and to be about ten miles wide.
It seems to parallel the main range of mountains about
lOO miles distant from it.
"There are both summer and winter diggings on all the
creeks, as some of the claims are capable of being both
drifted and sluiced. Some summer drifting is also done.
Wages, owing to the scarcity of men last winter, were $15
a day at the diggings, but they are Hkely to fall very soon.
The price of flour at Dawson City last winter was $1 a
pound, and this spring the trading companies advanced
their prices in some cases 50 per cent. Canned meats
were sold at 75 cents a can.
"Meals were charged for at the rate of $1.50 apiece.
Whisky was the same old price — 50 cents a drink. Lum-
ber, when it can be had, is $130 a thousand feet. The
price for sawing at the mills is $100 a thousand feet, the
logs being furnished by the purchaser. Beds or lodgings
are not to be had. If you can't find a place in some tent
where you may sleep you may try the saloon floors, of
which places there are a number. Good river-front lots
in the center of the town may be purchased at from
9
170 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
$3,000 to $5,000 each. These same lots sold last fall at
$5 apiece.
"The richness and extent of the diggings are such that
if they were in any place less inaccessible than this, doubt-
less the stampede to them would be tremendous, but a
great influx of gold-hunters at this time would be a
calamity. The Canadian government has sent in another
detachment of police and also a judge and a gold com-
missioner, who, with the customs officer, constitute the
governing force. Owing to the impossibility of escape
from the country such of the criminal element as has
come in thus far is very quiet and peaceable.
"Outside of a little stealing of provisions and similar
petty offenses there is no crime. There are but a few
places where supplies can be had in all this vast coun-
try, and any offender is certain therefore of being caught
and punished. Though gold has been sitting around in
the cabins for months in lard pails, baking-powder cans,
old boot legs and buckets, no thefts have been com-
mitted.
"What the country needs above all things is communi-
cation with the outside world. If the government at
Washington would make some arrangement whereby
the Canadians could get a port of entry on the disputed
part of the coast it would be a great boon to Alaska
as well as to this part of the Northwest territory. Most
of the men who 'hit it' are Americans, whose gold will
go to San Francisco and the United States. Because of
the lack of adequate communication with the civilized
world the miners are in constant fear lest supplies should
give out.
"Many articles can be had but for a limited time after
the arrival of a steamer, and those who are not fortunate
enough to get a supply at that time must do without for
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 171
weeks and months, no matter how much gold they may
have to make purchases with. The scarcity may be
one of provisions, window sashes or gimi boots, but al-
ways there is a scarcity here of some important article.
''Generally there is never enough of anything, and only
the opening up of comnumication with the coast by some
other route than the mouth of the Yukon offers any pros-
pect of adequate relief. If the Canadians had a port of
entry they would have commerce coming down the river
from the direction of Juneau, and the country would
not be dependent upon the scanty supplies coming 1.900
miles up the Yukon from Bering sea."
Since this letter was written reports from Dawson City
indicate that the "rush" to the gold diggings has glut-
ted the labor market and day labor is quoted at low
figures. It is reported that wages range from $2 to $3
a day.
One of the "most meaty" letters that have come from
the Yukon was written by Arthur Perry, a well-known
and reliable Seattle mian, who is now at Dawson City.
It is dated Dawson City, June 18, and reads in full as fol-
lows:
"The first discovery of gold on the Klondike v^'as made
the middle of August, 1896, by George Carmack on a
creek emptying into the Klondike from the south, called
by the Indians Bonanza. He found $1.60 to the pan on
a high rim, and after making the find known at Forty
JNIile went back with two Indians and took out $1,400 in
three weeks with three sluice boxes. The creek was soon
staked from one end to the other and all the small gulches
were also staked and recorded. About Sept. 10 a man
of the name of Whipple prospected a creek emptying
into Bonanza on No. 7, above discovery, and named it
Whipple creek. He shortly afterwards sold out and the
172 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
miners renamed it Ei Dorado. Prospects as high as $4 to
the pan were found early in the fall. Many of the old
miners from Forty Mile went there and would not stake,
saying the willows did not lean the right way and the
w^ater did not taste right, and that it was a moose pasture,
it being wide and flat. Both creeks were staked princi-
pally by 'chechacoes' (new men in the country), and early
as they could get provisions, about 250 men went there
and commenced prospecting by sinking holes to the
depth of from 9 to 24 feet, doing so by burning down, as
the ground was frozen solid to bed rock. Nov. 23 a man
of the name of Louis Rhodes located on Xo. 21, above on
Bonanza, got as high as $65.30 to the pan.
"This was the first big pan of any importance, and the
news spread up and down the creek like wildfire. This
news reached Circle City, 300 miles farther down the
Yukon river, but nobody would believe it. Soon after
large pans were found on both Bonanza and El Dorado,
and each creek was tr\'ing to outrival the other, until a
man of the name of Clarence Berry got $100 to the pan.
From that time on El Dorado held a high position. ^lany
claims from the mouth up for a distance of three miles
got large pans — until they reached as high as $280.
"About ]\Iarch 15, 1897, I reached the diggings from
Circle City, having hauled my sled the wdiole distance
without a dog. The importance of the new strike had
become too significant to be overlooked, and about 300
men from Circle City undertook the journey in midwin-
ter. Such an exodus was never known before in the
history of the Yukon, but not a man lost his life, although
several had their faces and toes nipped at times. Even
some of the most resolute and dissolute women made the
journey in safety. Fancy prices were paid for dogs by
those who were able to purchase, and as high as $175 and
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 173
even $200 were paid for good dogs. Almost any kind of
a dog was worth $50 and $75 each.
"When I first reached the new camp I was invited by
the butcher boys — Murph Thorp of Jimeau and George
Stewart from Stuck Valley, Wash. — to go down in their
shaft and pick a pan of dirt, as they had just struck the
rich streak. To my surprise it was $282.50. In fourteen
pans of dirt they took out $1,565 right in the bottom of
the shaft, which was 4 by 8 feet.
"March 20 Clarence Berry took out over $300 to the
pan. Jimmy MacLanie took out over $200 to the pan;
Frank Phiscater took out $135 to the pan. The four
boys from Nanaimo took as high as $125 to the pan.
They wefe the first men to get a hole down to bedrock
on El Dorado and found good pay. They had Nos. 14
and 15.
"In fact, big pans were being taken on nearly every
claim on the creek, until $100 and $200 pans were com-
mon. April 13 Clarence Berry took in one pan 39 ounces
— $495 — and in two days panned out over $1,200. April
14 we heard some boys on No. 30 El Dorado had struck
it rich and taken out $800 in one pan. This was the ban-
ner pan of the creek, and Charles Myers, who had the
ground on a lay, told me that if he had wanted to pick the
dirt he could have taken 100 ounces just as easy.
"Jimmy MacLanie took out $11,000 during the winter
just in prospecting the dirt. Clarence Berry and his part-
ner, Anton Strander, panned out about the same in the
same manner. Mrs. Berry used to go down to the dumps
every day and get dirt and carr}' it to the shanty and pan
it herself. She has over $6,000 taken out in that man-
ner.
"Mr. Lippy, from Seattle, has a rich claim and his wife
has a sack of nuggets alone of v$6,ooo that she has picked
174 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Up on the dumps. When the dumps were washed in the
spring the dirt yielded better than was expected. Four
boys on a lay, No. 2 El Dorado, took out $49,000 in two
months. Frank Phiscater, who owned the ground and
had some men hired, cleaned up $94,000 for the winter.
Mr. Lippy, so I am told, has cleaned up for the winter
$54,000. Louis Rhodes, No. 21 Bonanza, has cleaned
up $40,000. Clarence Berry and Anton Strander have
cleaned up $130,000 for the winter.
"Enclosed are the names of some of the boys who
are going out on this boat, with the approximate
amounts:
Ben Wall, Swede, Tacoma $50,000
William Carlson, Swede, Tacoma 50,000
Wm. Sloan, Englishman, Nanaimo 50,000
John Wilkerson, English, Nanaimo 50,000
Jim Clemens, American, California 50,000
Frank Keller, American^ California 35,ooo
Sam Collej, Icelander 25,000
Stewart and Hollenshead, California 45,000
Charles Myers and partner, Arizona 22,000
Johnny Marks, Englishman 10,000
Alex Orr, Englishman 10,000
Fred Price, American, Seattle 15,000
Fred Latisceura, Frenchman 10,000
Tim Bell, American 31,000
William Hayes, Irish-American 35,ooo
Dick ]\IcNulty, Irish-American 20,000
Jake Halterman, American 14,000
Johnson and Olson, Swedes 20,000
Neil McArthur, Scotchman 50,000
Charles Anderson. Swede 25,000
Joe Morris, Canadian i5»ooo
Hank Peterson, Swede 12,000
"There are a great many more going out with from
$3,000 to $10,000 that I do not know. Tnis is probably
the richest placer ever known in the world. They took it
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKEHS. 175
out so fast and so much of it that they did not have time
to weigh it with gold scales. They took steelyards and
all the syrup cans were filled. It looks as if my time
would come about the time I am ready to die.
"One man received w^ord that his wife and little girl
had died since he came in here, and now he is going out
with $25,000.
"Another man was here waiting for the boat to go
home, and died yesterday with heart disease, having in
his possession $17,000. Stranger things than fiction hap-
pen here every day."
176
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER X.
PAN VALUES OF PAYING CLAIMS.
ORROBORATIVE evidence, which has
come in since the steamer "Enterprise"
brought back the first of the men who
had "struck it rich" in the Klondike,
shows that their reports were not exag-
gerated. The "Alaska Miner," of July 17,
contains a long article on the Klondike
placers, in which the results are compared
with an analysis made last March of the pan value of the
two richest creeks. Bonanza and El Dorado. This analy-
sis was based on talks with several men who had spent
most of the winter on the creek, and saw panning being
done on various claims. The Alaska Miner is regarded
as high authority on gold in Alaska and the Yukon dis-
trict. The article, which shows the extraordinary rich-
ness of the placer mines in the Klondike district, reads
as follows:
"We expressed the opinion that the El Dorado would
prove to be the richer creek, and our surmises have
proved to be correct. How did we arrive at this result?
We carefully kept a record of the panning results on both
creeks, and the average at that time was as follows: On
El Dorado creek No. 3, $3; No. 4, $4.60; No. 5, $8.50;
No. 6, as high as $153; No. 7, about the average of No.
6. No. 8, as high as $60: from No. 8 to No. 16, from
$2.50 to $10 on an average, although $216 was
washed out of one pan on the latter claim. From
No. 16 to No. 37 all the claims were regarded
A n
\^k4&i!i
y^
-■^ ..-ST
/.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 17»
as good, but not enough panning had been done
to justify forming any opinion of the average value. Upon
No. 37 a nugget worth $360 of irregular shape was found.
From No. 37 to rim rock there had not been sufficient
prospecting done, but the opinion then was that all the
claims were good.
"Even as far back as last March the best developed
claim in the country was that of Clarence Berry, No. 6
on El Dorado, in which he then owned a half interest. He
also owned one-third interest in Nos. 4 and 5. He em-
ployed twelve men all the winter taking out pay dirt and
depositing it upon the dump. To give an idea of the
richness of the claim we cannot do better than say that
Berry paid his men $1.25 an hour until someone offered
more, and that every night he melted ice in his cabin and
panned out suflficient gold from the frozen dirt to pay the
wages of his men.
"Berry knew where there was very rich ground on his
claim and he very often panned out from $10 to $50 to the
pan. When requiring money it was only necessary for
the owner of the claim to take out some of his rich ground
and wash it. We have had all kinds of estimates of the
amount which Berry's dump would produce, and the
highest we heard was $100,000, so that in announcing
the result as $140,000 it goes to show what a rich coun-
tr}^ has been discovered.
"We gave figures in the winter which showed that the
lower portion of Bonanza creek averaged all the way
from $10 to $50 to the pan, up to No. 56 below discovery.
From discovery to No. 12 above, the value was from $5
to $40. Then from there to No. 25 the average was from
v$40 to $10. From No. 25 to No. 53 the average is from
$10 to 50 cents. From this point up the creek there has
180 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
not been enough prospecting clone on which to base any
average.
"We hope soon to be in a position to give the results
from the various claims on Bonanza which may be de-
pended upon and we can then compare them with the
panning average of early in the summer as given above.
We know that Rhodes has taken out probably $150,000
from his claim, but then it was well developed and we are
expecting big results from there, but we want to get the
information from a number of claims, so as to get the
right idea of the general value of the creek, and prove the
assertion so often made of its continued richness from
end to end.
"One thing has been learned in the Klondike, and that
is that production is proportionate to development. We
have found that the yield of gold follows the work done on
a claim. When Rhodes made such a good showing on
the start it encouraged others to open up their claims,
and quite a number changed hands at Bonanza creek
and the owners left there for the coast to obtain sufficient
supplies to last them for a long period. Then came the
big returns from No. 6 on El Dorado, and the great
excitement was transferred to that creek, and there were
fewer absentee owners and in consequence more work
was done, the evidence of which we have had ample
demonstration of in the big sacks of gold which have been
washed out.
"The largest results attract the most attention, there-
fore most of the stories which have reached the coast
cluster around the few big producers, and of the sales
made only those involving large sums are spoken of.
There are a great many smaller sums than the ones
spoken of which have been taken from El Dorado. But
properties which in any other country on the face of the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 181
earth would attract universal attention are almost lost
sight of in the Klondike, because they have only yielded
$10,000, $15,000 and $20,000. Next fall these same
claims will be so far developed as to hold their own with
the r.est of the creek. Berry had a good start, and after
reaching bed rock could command sufficient funds to
hire men and pay them wages equal to the production of
an ordinary placer mine. We have no particular reason
to assume that other claims will prove less productive
than his when they have had the same amount of labor
expended upon them. Several men from Seattle went in
with the first party this spring, and they are interested
on Bonanza creek and intend to prosecute work with all
the men they can profitably employ.
"If a comparatively few men in the limited time at their
disposal are able to produce a million dollars from dirt
raised to the surface during the winter months
with practically no preparation at all, what will
be the result when all the claims are being vigor-
ously developed with plenty of labor to draw from? This
is a very important question, and is one fraught with con-
siderable interest to the great number of men now on
their way to the mines. If we think a moment that there
has not yet been a barren claim on either of the creeks
the possibilities of the future are tremendous. Let us
make this a little clearer. The panning in the winter
gave promise of exceedingly rich results. These rich
results have been attained in every instance where the
claim has been worked. We have therefore the right to
assume that similar results will reward the efforts of the
owners of other claims on the same creeks which have
been so productive this season.
"The only evidence one had of the probable value of
a claim was th^ amount of gold obtained in a single
182 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
pan. Suppose we follow this idea out for a moment. No.
6 on El Dorado creek panned out as high as $153 to the
pan last winter before work was done on it. This is the
claim which produced $140,000 from the winter dump.
Now, then, No. 7, next to it, yielded precisely the same
results to the pan. Why will not No. 7, when it is
opened up as much as No. 6 has been, give the same re-
sults? There is simply no answer to the query. Then,
again, the next claim. No. 8, panned out as high as
$60 to the pan. The same argument applies to this. The
average of the panning from No. 8 to No. 16 is from
$2.50 to $10 to the pan. This would make any of these
claims from No. 7 to No. 16 produce as much gold as No.
6 did with the same amount of labor expended on them.
What w^ould this mean?
"As a simple Cjuestion of mathematics it would mean
several million dollars alone for these few claims. This
takes no account of claims No. 17 to No. 37, all of which
are reported to be rich, but little work has been done upon
them so far.
"When all the claims are in working order and pro-
ducing gold in proportion to their development, we shall
£ee a state of things at the Klondike unprecedented in the
world's history. The man who took $90,000 from 45 feet
of his ground last winter and has 450 feet left yet, and so
far as he knows, of the same average value, can, by put-
ting enough men to work, clean up half a million next
season. If this be true, then there are others who have
panned out from $5 to $40 in prospecting who have every
reason to think that their claims will yield in like manner.
'W^e noticed as men went through here this spring
that there were large numbers who expect to hire out,
and thus obtain a stake so that they may in turn spend
some time in prospecting with an equal chance of dis-
BOOK FOR G0LD-SEEI<:ERS. 183
covering something good for themselves. Their place
v.ill be taken by other arrivals, and the work of securing
the gold will go on and much country will be examined
by men who will be encouraged and stimulated by the
success of others. A man who can afford to hire men
and pay them $12 a day, will get the advantage of a quick
return. These diggings are essentially winter ones. Upon
a claim of 500 feet a large number of prospect holes can
be sunk at the same timie, and the pay dirt deposited on
the dump, and next spring the owner of the claim will be
in a position to realize enormous amounts of money from
his property.
"The Klondike diggings may be regarded as permanent
to the extent of several million dollars, and we have no
hesitation in recommending men with some means to go
and try their fortunes in the gold-lined creeks of the far
north, vvhere endurance, perseverance, grit and a good
outfit will be their best friends."
Following are some of the men who "struck it rich" in
the Klondike, most of the claims located on Bonanza and
El Dorado creeks:
Clarence Berry and Anton Strander $130,000
James McLanie 11 ,000
Frank Phiscater 94,000
Four men on No. 2 El Dorado 49,000
Louis Rhodes 40,000
Thomas Cross 10,000
Ben Wall 50,000
William Carlson 50,000
William Sloan 50,000
John Wilkerson 50,000
James Clemens 50,000
Frank Keller 35,ooo
Samuel Cellej 25,000
Charles Myers and partner 22,000
John Marks 10,000
184 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Fred Latisceura 10,000
Timothy Bell 31,000
William Hayes 35,ooo
Richard AIcNiilty 20,000
Jacob Halterman 14,000
Johnson and Olson 20,000
Charles Anderson 25,000
Joseph Morris 15,000
Henry Peterson 12,000
Henry Dore 50,000
Victor Lord 1 5,000
William Stanley 1 12,000
James McMahon 15,000
Jacob Home 6,000
J. J. Kelly 10,000
T. S. Lippy 65,000
F. G. H. Bowker 90,000
Joe La Due 10,000
J. B. Hollingshead 25,000
William Kulju 17,000
Albert Galbraith 15,000
Neil McArthur 15,000
Douglas McArthur 15,000
Bernard Anderson 14,000
Robert Krook 14,000
Fred Lendesser 1 3,000
Alexander Orr 11 ,500
Thomas Cook 10,000
M. D. Norcross 10,000
J. Ernmerger 10,000
Con Stamatin 8,250
Albert Fox 5,100
Greg Stewart 5,ooo
J. O. Hestwood 5,ooo
Thomas Flock 6,000
Louis B. Rhodes 5,000
Fred Price 5,000
Alaska Commercial company 250,000
Gov. H. C. Mcintosh, of the Northwest territory,
comprising the Canadian Yukon, estimates that the Klon-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 185
dike district will yield $10,000,000 during 1897. Gov.
Mcintosh, in speaking of the Klondike find, said :
"We are only on the threshold of the greatest discovery
ever made. Gold has been piling up in all these innum-
erable streams for hundreds of years. Much of the terri-
tory the foot of man has never trod. It would hardly be
possible for one to exaggerate the richness, not only of
the Klondike, but of other districts in the Canadian Yu-
kon. At the same time the folly of thousands rushing
in there without proper means of subsistence and in
utter ignorance of geographical conditions of the country
should be kept ever in mind.
"There are fully 9,000 miles of these golden waterways
in the region of the Yukon. Rivers, creeks and streams
of every size and description are all rich in gold. I
derived this knowledge from many old Hudson Bay ex-
plorers, who assured me that they considered the gold
next to inexhaustible.
"In 1894 I made a report to Sir John Thompson, then
premier of Canada, who died the same year at
Windsor castle, strongly urging that a body of Cana-
dian police be established on the river to maintain order.
This was done in 1895, and the British outpost of Fort
Cudahy was founded.
"I have known gold to exist there since 1889, conse-
quent upon a report made to me by W. Ogilvie, the gov-
ernment explorer. Many streams that will no doubt prove
to be as rich as the Klondike have not been explored or
prospected. Among these I might mention Dominion
creek, Hootalinqua river, Stewart river, Liard river and
a score of other streams comparatively unknown.
"It is my judgment and opinion that the 1897 yield of
the Canadian Yukon will exceed $10,000,000 in gold. Of
course, as in the case of the Cariboo and Cassiar districts
186 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
years ago, it will be impossible accurately to estimate the
full amount taken out.
"There is now far in excess of $1,000,000 remaining al-
ready mined on the Klondike. It is in valises, tin cans
and lying loose in saloons, but just as sacredly guarded
there and apparently as safe as if it were in a vault. Al-
ready this spring we have ofificial knowdedge of over $2,-
000,000 in gold having been taken from the Klondike
camps. It was shipped out on the steamships Excelsior
and Portland.
"Incidentally I may say we have data of an ofificial na-
ture which lead us to believe that the gold output of the
Rossland and Kootenai districts for 1897 will be in excess
of $7,000,000. I should have said, and I have no hesi-
tancy in asserting, that within the course of five years
the gold yield of the three districts named will exceed
that of either Colorado, California or South Africa."
SNOW STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS.
JBOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 189
CHAPTER XL
THE "BACK DOOR" ROUTE.
HE "BACK DOOR" route to the Klon-
dike country is the highway of the
Hudson's Bay company. The Mac-
kenzie river stretches its length of i,-
450 miles most of the distance, and
gold-seekers can float on its waters to
one of the several rivers which ofifer
ways to reach the western slope of the
divide, far up under the Arctic circle.
It is interesting to note that the "back door" route to
the Klondike follows the first continental route across
North America. This way was discovered by Mackenzie
in 1785, when he paddled his canoe from Great Slave
lake down the river which bears his name to the Arctic
ocean, which Mackenzie supposed was the Pacific ocean.
The next year after making the same trip, he went up
the Peace river and crossed over the divide to the western
slope, which now is Alaska, thence to Bering sea.
The Northwest territory includes the basins of the
Athabasca, Mackenzie and Great Fish rivers. The first
exploration, purely geographical in character, in this dis-
trict was made by Samuel Hearne, who was sent in 1770
by the Hudson's Bay company northward in the direc-
tion of the Arctic waters. He reached the Arctic ocean
and wrote an account of his journey, but this important
document was held by the Hudson's Bay company for
20 years before it was published. A Canadian family
of the name of Beaulieu founded a settlement north of
Lake Athabasca, and in 1778 a fort was erected there.
10
190 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Next an Englishman, named Pond, guided by these
half-castes, advanced as far as the Great Slave lake, and
7 years later Mackenzie entered upon his explorations.
After Mackenzie's expedition no voyage of discovery was
undertaken until 1820, when Sir John Franklin explored
the Northwest territories between Lake Winnipeg and the
Arctic ocean. After this the trappers and half-breeds in
the employ of the Northwest Hudson's Bay company
traveled all over the Northwest territories.
The gold-seeker who takes the "back door" route to
the Klondike fields will travel through a country which
has been placed in song and story by those who sang
and wrote of the deeds done by the trappers, voyageurs
and other adventurers in the employ of the fur com-
panies. The route (described in preceding pages of this
book) starts from Edmonton, which is a terminal of a
spur of the Canadian Pacific railroad from Calgary on
the main line, and is 1,772 miles from Chicago. For the
first forty miles toward the placer mines of the Klondike
the gold-seeker will travel over a well made stage road
to Athabasca landing, and here he will strike the waters
which, eventually, will find their way into the Arctic
ocean.
The Athabasca river, which is the main upper branch
of the Mackenzie, has its remotest southern source in
the little lake, on the east side of Mt. Brown in the Rocky
mountains, which passes under the name of the "Commit-
tee's punch bowl." That is one of its names, for in com-
mon with all the other lakes and rivers and streams in
the Northwest territory, it has anywhere from 2 to 7
names, as every watercourse has been named by English
and Canadian trappers and the Indian tribes that are lo-
cal to the vicinity. The term Athabasca is not often used.
The Canadians calling it the "Biche." On some English
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 191
maps it passes under the name of "Elk river." The Ath-
abasca receives the drainage of the lesser Slave lake as
well as the overflow of several other lakes from the west.
At the foot of Bark mountain the Athabasca runs over the
"Great rapids," which is an inclined plane about 60
miles long, unbroken by any falls or cataracts, and only
occasionally is the water ruffled by rocks projecting above
the surface.
The Athabasca enters Lake Athabasca 550 miles from
its source. At present the alluvial delta extends towards
the northwest about 30 miles, having many channels
which change their direction and size with every inunda-
tion, Athabasca lake stands about 500 feet above the
sea level. It is in the form of a crescent, with the convex
side facing north, the shores are very irregular and have
many deep inlets. The lake receives its chief tributary
from the west, and here also is the outlet, so that the
delta is common to both the affluent and effluent. The
Athabasca and Peace rivers uniting form the Great Slave
river, which is a very large stream, but its passage
through the Caribou hills is so obstructed by rapids that
boatmen have to make 7 portages between the Dog
river from the east and the Salt river from the west.
Below these rapids the true Mackenzie, or the "Great"
river, as the natives call it, begins its 1,450 miles journey
to the Arctic ocean. Up to the Great Slave lake into
which it empties it passes between wooded hills. The
Great Slave lake is one of the largest in North America;
it is not less than 300 miles long, 60 miles at its widest
part and has an area of about 10,000 square miles. In
the west it is shallow, but its eastern end is bordered by
steep cliffs and high bluffs and the waters there, it is said,
are 650 feet deep. The 63d parallel crosses the northern
waters of Great Slave lake. The Mackenzie escapes from
192 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
the lake at the northwest. It first widens into basins that
are ahnost stagnant, and then its banks come together,
and the river bed falls rapidly to where the Liard comes
in from the south.
Below the confluence of the Liard the Mackenzie main-
tains a width of 2,000 yards; at many points the banks
are 4 to 5 miles apart. Several rapids occur, of which
but one, the Sans-Saut, offer any dangers to navigation.
The delta of the jVIackenzie extends north and south a
distance of 90 miles, with an area of 4,000 square miles.
This delta, however, is common also to the Peel or
Plumee river, which comes in from the west.
The Athabasca-Mackenzie river, which has a total
length of nearly 2,700 miles, has a basin of at least 460,-
000 square miles, has been used regularly for the trans-
port of provisions and merchandise since 1887. Steamers
from Lake Winnipeg ascend the Saskatchewan river to
a large rapid, which is evaded by a short railroad, beyond
which navigation again is resumed. A wagon road 100
miles long runs to the Athabasca river, which is descend-
ed by steamers and flat-bottomed boats, according to the
nature of the waters, to Fort Smith, on the Great Slave
river. At this point is a portage 12 miles long. Beyond
the portage steamers which draw 5 feet regularly ply on
the Mackenzie to its estuary, as well as on the Peace and
Liard rivers, and on Lake Dease. This gives the united
Saskatchewan and Athabasca-Mackenzie basins a water-
way of 7,500 miles, almost every mile of which is navi-
gable, and beyond which navigation can be continued
along the Arctic seaboard to Bering strait for three
months in the year.
The forts and settlements along the Athabasca-Mac-
kenzie route have acquired a certain celebrity in connec-
tion with the stories of adventure and tales of romance
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 193
which are connected with the names of Mackenzie,
FrankHn, Back, Richardson and other noted explorers.
Fort IMcMurray stands at the confluence of the Atha-
basca and Clearwater rivers at the famous La Loche
portage, which has been the main route of Canadian trav-
elers and trappers for a century.
Fort Chippewayan stands at the western extremity of
Lake Athabasca. The shiftings of the alluvial delta have
compelled the trappers to move Fort Chippewayan sev-
eral times. Fort Smith is at the end of the portage from
Smith's landing, between Lake Athabasca and Great
Slave lake, and beyond are Fort Resolution and Fort
Providence, on the Great Slave lake, all of them famous
in connection with Sir John Franklin's expedition, just
as Fort Reliance has acquired fame because of its asso-
ciation with the exploits and adventures of Back. Fort
Reliance, however, has been abandoned.
In the region between the Great Slave and Great Bear
lakes is Fort Simpson, the chief station, which stands at
the junction of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers, com-
manding also the route from the sources of the Stikeen
river to South Alaska. Fort Wrigley is the next station
above Fort Simpson, then comes Fort Norman, which
stands at the juncture of the ^Mackenzie and the Hare-
skin rivers; still further north is Fort Good Hope, and
then comes Fort McPherson, the most northern of the
posts, which stands at the junction of the Peel and the
Mackenzie rivers, and which has been maintained in a
state of defense since 1848.
The gold-seeker must be prepared to stand cold weather
as well as hot weather on this "back door" route, depend-
ing on the time of the year he makes the trip. The Hud-
son's Bay company trappers traverse this whole district
from one end of the year to the other. Snow seldom
194 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
falls during intensely cold weather. At Fort Chippe-
vvayan, which is in 58 degrees 43 minutes north latitude,
the mean temperature is 2y degrees Fahr. ; extreme of
cold, 49 degrees below zero ; extreme of heat, 86 degrees
above zero. At Fort Good Hope, which is 66 degrees 20
minutes north latitude, the thermometer sinks 62 degrees
below zero, and for six months, that is from October 17
to April 24, the average temperature at Fort Confidence,
which is in practically the same latitude as Fort Good
Hope, is 14 degrees below zero.
At Fort Simpson, which is 62 degrees north latitude,
a boat is loaded every year with potatoes grown there to
supply the station of Fort Good Hope on the Lower Mac-
kenzie; at Fort Simpson also barley is in the ear 75 days
after being sown, although the ground is permanently
frozen for a depth of at least 7 feet 10 to 12 feet below the
surface. Snow, however, is seldom more than 3 feet deep
in winter, and horses pass the season there in the open.
The half-caste trappers in the service of the Hudson's
Bay company are noted the world over for their physical
strength, their skill, indifference to cold and hardships,
and coolness in the presence of danger. In all proba-
bility the rush of the gold-seekers next spring will tear
down, in a good measure, the veil of romance and mys-
tery which has hidden this land from the outside world
for so many years. It might be of service to the men
who intend to take the "back door" route to know that
the principal food of the trappers and Indians of the
Northwest country is pemmican, "jerked beef," which, it
is said, contains more nutritious elements, bulk for bulk,
than any similar preparation. The normal ration of pem-
mican for one day for one man is but two and a half
pounds; that seems to satisfy even the Indians. Pemmi-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 195
can is made from the round of beef, cut in strips and dried,
and then shredded or mixed with beef tallow and raisins.
Craft W. Higgins of Chicago, one of the promoters of
the British Pacific railway, which is intended to open up
and develop the rich Caribou gold country, and who was
all through British Columbia and the Northwest territory
in 1892-3, and afterward made a trip to the Yukon, is
one authority for the statement that the back door route
was not only the most practicable, but the most feas-
ible of the overland routes; entailed less hardships than
that through the Chilkoot pass, did not take near so long
a time as the other routes, and that transportation of sup-
plies was much easier. Mr. Higgins said:
"The jumping-off place is at Edmonton, 1,772 miles
from Chicago, on the Canadian Pacific railway. A stage
line runs from there to Athabasca landing, on the Atha-
basca river, and the Canadian Pacific intends to extend
its line north from Edmonton to that point. At Edmon-
ton the Canadian Pacific owns very large coal mines.
From Athabasca landing you can take a canoe and go
down with the current to Athabasca lake, and then into
Great Slave lake, through which runs the Mackenzie
river, by which you reach the Arctic ocean. When the
mouth of the Mackenzie is reached the Peel river can be
taken south to the Rocky mountains, which are crossed
by trail. When across the range the Stewart river opens
the way to the near-by Klondike regions.
"From Edmonton to the mouth of the Mackenzie the
distance is 1,882 miles, as given by the Hudson's
Bay company, w-hich has a number of trading posts,
well stocked with provisions and supplies of all kinds,
at short intervals along the route, as it has been
using this trail for the last 100 years. The port-
ages are all short, with the exception of one at
196 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Smith's landing of about sixteen miles, but this is
very easy to make. One can take the splendid tram-
way which the Hudson's Bay company has built. None
of the other portages is more than a few hundred yards in
length. The trip is down grade all the way, and wherever
there is water of any depth at all small freight steamers
are continually plying back and forth. The trip can be
made from Edmonton to the mouth of the Mackenzie
in less than 60 days, but if Peel river is frozen, dog trains
will have to be taken from there to the Klondike; but
even with those the disadvantages and hardships will not
be half those to be overcome in going by way of Dyea.
One great advantage of this route is that it is an organ-
ized line of travel, and the numerous posts of the Hudson's
Bay company can furnish prospectors with ample sup-
plies, enabling them to travel very light, as only sufficient
supplies are necessary to last from one post to another.
"I would not like to say just exactly what the cost of
the trip via the 'back door route' would be, but I think it
could be made for less money than any of the others which
are now so popular. Canoes can be obtained readily from
the Indians, but it is not advisable to attempt to use them
without the assistance of an Indian who is familiar with
the frail birch-bark canoes. These canoes can be secured
to carry several tons. The Hudson's Bay company also
contracts to take freight north on their steamers during
the season of open navigation.
"With a small expenditure of money this route can be
improved and the facilities increased so that any amount
of freight and any number of passengers can be taken
to the gold regions. I was told at Edmonton that still
south of the international boundary line the mountains
were very high, but that the elevation continually lowered
northward until there remained only a high plateau. In
iDAWSON CITY
/so'
A RCT/C /oCEiAN.
O
X
vS*-/
u^
BACK DOOR ROUTE VIA ATHABASCA AND MACKENZIE RIVERS.
J)
ITS
* CAX£
CLi\ro/v COlOEH c
/SCALE OF MILES - ^ - ,
100 200 ^y^ '
BACK DOOR ROUTE VIA SASKATCHEWAN AND MACKENZIE RIVERS.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 201
fact, the pass through the Rocky mountains which the
British Pacific will use is some 200 miles north of the
Canadian Pacific and only about 2,200 feet high, being the
lowest elevation at which any transcontinental road cross-
es the divide.
"In talking with members of the Hudson's Bay posts
and officers of the Canadian mounted police at Calgary
and Edmonton, and also at Victoria and up in the famous
Caribou country, I was told that several years ago some
$60,000,000 In gold was taken out; that the mines were
being worked by hydraulic mining; that all the beds of
the small streams from the 6oth parallel to the mouth of
the Mackenzie river were filled with gold. A great num-
ber of those running west from the Mackenzie river even-
tually empty into the Yukon. When I was told this, of
course, I did not pay so much attention to it, because the
gold fever was not so rampant as at present. The Cassiar
and Ominaca districts have long been known to be ex-
tensively rich in gold, and if one-half of what has been
told to me is true they will not only rival but surpass the
now famous Klondike, I have seen any number of the
most beautiful specimens of white quartz filled with gold,
and when the method of quartz mining is perfected up
in that far north the present placer claims will soon seem
wonderfully poor in comparison.
"Dr. Dawson, the eminent geologist of the Canadian
government, who only a few years ago made an extensive
and exhaustive geological survey of the northwestern
provinces of Canada, told me that he considered the rea-
son for the gold being found in the small streams was due
to the breaking and grinding action of the glaciers more
than for any other cause. Gold undoubtedly exists in
places in large and paying quantities, but quartz mining
202 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
requires machinery and money, and, of course, is not the
poor man's proposition, as is placer mining."
Mgr. Clut, the missionary auxihary bishop of Atha-
basca and Mackenzie, has been in that far ofif land for
many years, laboring as an Oblat father and subsequently
as bishop. He is quite familiar with the country which is
now attracting such numbers of gold-seekers, and a quar-
ter of a century ago he journeyed through the whole Yu-
kon country. Although no one dreamt of gold deposits
then, and JMgr. Clut knew nothing of the mineral re-
sources of the region till afterward, he knows all about
climatic conditions of the Yukon district, and how best
it can be reached.
In the spring of 1872, Francois Mercier, now of Mon-
treal, returned to San Francisco from Alaska, where he
had been representing the Commercial company of Alas-
ka, and reported that the Indians were becoming so
troublesome as to obstruct trade. The company promised
to send up a couple of hundred armed men to protect the
traders, but Mr. Mercier suggested that two or three
roman catholic missionaries would do more good than
as many hundred soldiers, and so Father Clut was asked
to go. Accompanied by several French Canadian repre-
sentatives of the company, he set out on August 30, 1872,
and did not return till September 8, 1873, wintering at
Fort Yukon.
Speaking of the experiences of that trip, which was a
long and difficult one, Mgv. Clut said emphatically that
it would be more than folly for any one to attempt to
reach the Klondike without being able to take along with
him plenty of warm clothing, as well as a good supply
of food. He had already dissuaded a good many people
whom he had met during the present visit east, from start-
ing off at once for the so-called land of gold. It would
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 203
be simply impossible for gold-hunting to be accomplished
during the winter with snow on the hard, frozen ground.
As to the best means of reaching the country, Bishop
Glut is of the opinion that the route by the Mackenzie
river is by far the safest and most practicable. Of this
route he said: "It may take longer, but the difficulties
the prospector will have to overcome going via Fort Mac-
pherson will be certainly very much less than in going
through the passes from Dyea on the coast. Alter leav-
ing Macpherson the Rocky mountains have to be crossed,
the distance to what is called Lapierre house being about
80 miles, and this is the only portage to be met with, save
one of 16 miles after leaving Athabasca landing, 60 miles
from Edmonton."
According to men who have traveled the Mackenzie
river route, $200 is sufficient to cover transportation ex-
penses from Chicago to the Klondike country.
To travel over it passengers must go to St. Paul and
there take train over the Canadian Pacific. Leaving St.
Paul at 9 o'clock in the morning, the international boun-
dary at Portal will be crossed at 4 o'clock the next morn-
ing. At 2:22 the following morning the Chicagoan will
find himself at Calgary, where he will leave the main line
of the Canadian Pacific and travel to Edmonton, a point
1,772 miles from Chicago, and where the rail portion of
the journey ends. The railroad fare from Chicago is
$53-65-
A stage ride of 40 miles will bring him to Athabasca
landing. Here he will find a continuous waterway for
canoe travel to Fort Macpherson at the north mouth of
the Mackenzie river, from which point the Peel river leads
south to the gold regions. From Edmonton to Fort
Macpherson is 1,882 miles.
A recent letter from a missionary declared the ice had
204 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
only commenced to run in the Peel river Sept. 30 last
year. The Peel river is the water route southeast from
Fort Macpherson into the gold regions.
Travelers need not carry any more food than will take
them from one Hudson's Bay post to the next, and there
is abundance of fish and wild fowl along the route. They
can also get assistance at the posts in case of sickness or
accident.
If lucky enough to make their "pile" in the Klondike
they can come back by the dog-sled route in the winter.
There is one mail to Fort IMacpherson in the winter.
Dogs for teams can be bought at any of the Hudson's
Bay posts which form a chain of roadhouses on the trip.
Parties traveling alone will need no guides until they
get near Fort Macpherson, the route from Edmonton be-
ing so well defined.
It is estimated that a party of three could provide them-
selves with food for the canoe trip of two months for $35.
Pork, tea, flour and baking powder would suffice.
Parties should consist of three men, as that is the crew
of a canoe. It will take 600 pounds of food to carry three
men over the route. The paddling is all done down-
stream except when they turn south up Peel river, and
sails should be taken, as there is often a favorable wind for
days. There are large scows on the line manned by ten
men each, and known as "sturgeon heads." They are like
canal boats, but are punted along, and are used by the
Hudson's bay people for taking supplies to the forts.
This is the way one enthusiastic advocate of the "back-
door" route puts the proposition:
"Let the voyager build his boat at Fargo, N. D., or
Moorhead, ]\Iinn,, on the Red River of the North, float it
down stream (north) to Lake Winnipeg, then cross Lake
iWinnipeg to the mouth of the Saskatchewan river, then
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 205
follow that river up stream to the forks, where the
north branch empties its waters into the Saskatchewan.
F'ollow from there the North branch up stream to White
Whale lake. Here is the first transfer overland, lO miles
westward to Pembina river. Then float down stream on
the Pembina river to the Athabasca, thence down stream
to Lake Athabasca, crossing it and taking the Slave river
down stream. Crossing the Great Slave lake, take the
Mackenzie river northward (down stream) until the
mouth of the Liard or Mountain river is reached. Fol-
low the Liard or Mountain river up stream to Simpson
lake, where the second and last transfer by land occurs,
50 miles northward to Francis lake, which is the head-
waters of the Pelly river. Float down this Pelly river to
the Yukon, thence down the Yukon, prospecting as you
go, until your El Dorado is reached.
"A boat 25 feet long, 5 feet wide, 2^ feet deep, built of
wood or sheet iron, rigged for two pairs of timber wheels,
or with an iron axle made to fit the bottom of the boat,
with which to transport it across the land, could easily
carry six men and their supplies for a year, allowing 3
men to rest while the other 3 manage the boat. Take four
pairs of good, strong oars, four long poles, a sail and
about 1,000 feet of i|-inch strong rope for cordelling pur-
poses on some of the streams where you go against the
current.
"All the land you traverse after reaching the British
possessions is where the Hudson's Bay company has its
many outposts and trading houses. This country, until
Great Slave lake is reached, is filled with all sorts of
game.
"It will probably take no longer to go this route than
it will to go by vessel from Seattle to St. Michael, at the
mouth of the Yukon, and thence 2,000 miles up the Yu-
206 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
kon on the very small steamers in use on that river, and
as there will be little opportunity to use or spend money
on this route, it being one in which the voyager 'works
his way/ it will no doubt prove the popular overland route
to the gold fields by the class of hardy spirits not over-
burdened w'ith cash.
"A light steam vessel or steam launch could tow 15
of these boats as far as the depth of water would permit,
and at the two places where transportation by land is re-
quired it will not be long before some sturdy, enterpris-
ing man will locate at each, with horses or oxen, with
wheels rigged especially to transfer these boats and their
cargoes from one stream to the other, thus rendering the
voyage one of only ordinary labor of from 3 to 5 weeks to
complete.
"The prospects are that enough hides and furs can be
taken while in transit to pay all the expenses of the excur-
sion. These rivers are solidly frozen until March or
April. Leaving Fargo wdien the ice breaks, these boats
can follow it, and as fast as the ice runs out of the Mac-
kenzie you follow, which will permit you to reach the
gold fields while the Yukon ice is running out, at least
one month before any steamer can ascend it. You can
carry your guns, axes, saws and supplies for a year with
you. The steamers on the Pacific and the Yukon will not
carry a pound of any sort of freight for a miner, but com-
pel them to purchase everything they desire from the
stores belonging to the company that owns the vessels,
and at prices that almost amount to confiscation."
Another man who believes in the "back door" route is
"Si" Malterner of Canton, N. Y., who, for the third time,
is on his way to the Arctic ocean by way of the lordly
Mackenzie.
Just before leaving home he said:
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 207
"Take the Canadian Pacific to Calgary and the branch
line to Edmonton. A stage ride will place you at Atha-
basca landing, on water that empties into the Arctic
ocean. From there you pass through the Great Slave
lake into the Mackenzie river. Float down that stream
about I, ICO miles to the mouth of the Peel river. Go up
the Peel about 15 miles to the mouth of the Husky. Fol-
low up this stream to the divide. A portage of 4 miles will
put you on the Porcupine river. From there you paddle
up stream past Cudahy and Circle City to Klondike, or
rather Dawson City.
"I will make the trip alone. Two years ago I went with
a party from the lake to the ocean and back. Last year
I went alone. I left the landing May i, and landed at the
mouth of the river July 30. The Mackenzie, from the
lake, is from 3 to 8 miles wide. Where it is joined
by the Peel it widens to 15 miles, and at its mouth it must
be about 60 miles wide. From lake to ocean is about i,-
400 miles. There are some bad places in the stream. One
of these consists of a succession of dangerous rapids ex-
tending for 100 miles, that no one should attempt unless
under the direction of an experienced guide. The cur-
rent is strong and rapid. I made the trip in a seventeen-
foot Petersborough canoe.
"The country through which the river runs is rolling
and has considerable timber along the low places. There
is considerable game, including moose, caribou, sheep,
birds and mosquitoes. The latter deserve to be classed
as game, though the man is the hunted, not the hunter,
in their case. In summer it is hot along the river. Near
the Arctic circle the thermometer sometimes stood at 75
and 80. The sun, of course, shines all summer, so there is
no chance to cool ofif.
"There is but one way to get back, and that is to draw
208 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
your boat by a rope and walk along the bank a la canal-
boat. The Hudson's Bay company operates an 8o-foot
boat from the mouth of the Peel river to Fort Smith, 200
miles this side of Great Slave lake, but does not accept
passengers or freight. This company also has stations
every 200 or 300 miles along the river."
P. J. Curran of 5818 Aberdeen street, Chicago, will
start for Alaska about March i. He expects to go "cross
lots" and to get there in seven weeks.
Mr. Curran, who is employed at the stock yards, was a
member of the Canadian mounted police patroling the
British Northwest territory for 8 years. He is familiar
with the country and the needs for a journey and will
lead a party of four from Chicago to the Klondike gold
fields. Mrs. Curran, who was a teacher and missionary
among the Indians of the northwest for 15 years, wears
two bright gold rings which were molded by a frontier
blacksmith from gold panned by her husband from the
Saskatchewan river.
Gold is found, according to Mr. Curran, in all of the
streams of the northwest in varying quantities and has
been mined in a desultory way for many years.
During his residence in the territory Mr. Curran says
prospecting parties frequently pushed north, but the
policy of the Hudson's Bay company, which has grown
rich from trading with the Indians since the time of
Charles II., has been to discourage white men from get-
ting a foothold.
Mr. Curran outlined his plans as follows:
At Edmonton we will purchase a dog team, and travel
north with these swift runners along the system of lakes
and rivers which find their outlet into the Arctic ocean
through the Mackenzie river.
"From some point on the upper Mackenzie we will
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 211
turn our course overland, and thus make the journey to
the gold fields of the Klondike.
"Starting from Edmonton March i, we will make the
journey after the most rigorous part of the winter has
softened under the influences of the lengthening days,
but before any of the waterways have broken up, so that
the journey may be made all the way with dog sledges.
We expect to be on the grounds by the time spring pros-
pecting opens."
Mr. Curran said that many of the prospectors were not
taking counsel of wisdom in selecting their outfits. "I
see no reason why," he said, "the miners cannot live for a
season on the kind of rations which the Canadian police
thrive on all of the year. A pound of flour and a pound of
bacon a day sustains the life of those in the government
service, and often sends them back living pictures of
health to their friends, who had seen them leave their
eastern homes frail and delicate. Canned goods are out
of place in the traveler's outfit for the reason they take
up room and are not valuable as food.
"For supplies to last one man 400 days I would take
400 pounds of flour, 400 pounds of bacon — fat meat is
necessary to sustain life in a cold climate — 75 pounds of
beans, 50 pounds of evaporated apples, 60 pounds of
sugar, 12 pounds of tea. Tea is better as a drink in cold
countries than cofifee. Northern natives and white trad-
ers use tea as the staple drink.
"My clothing outfit will be two suits of heavy under-
wear, two heavy flannel shirts, six pairs of socks, two
pairs of long stockings, two pairs of moleskin trousers,
one pair of heavy boots, four pairs of moccasins, two
pairs of drufifels, leather mittens, wool mittens, fur cap,
a Canadian toque, four pairs Hudson bay blankets and
a bearskin robe."
11
21U THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
The things described, with pick, shovel, tools and a
canvas canoe, will comprise the load which Mr. Curran
expects his dog team can haul over the track at the rate of
50 miles a day. A good dog team, he thinks, should be
purchased at Edmonton for $60, unless dogs have
"boomed" since he priced them in that city. Mr. Cur'-an
estimates the expense of the trip at $600. He will pur-
chase his entire outfit at Edmonton and not try to ob-
tain anything from the stores and stations of the Hud-
son's Bay company which are scattered along the way.
The country through which he will travel abounds with
game — deer, moose, elk, red deer, ducks and geese, and
black and grizzly bear are common enough, so that the
tourist, armed with shotgun and rifle, need not want for
fresh meat.
Mr. Curran is of the opinion that this overland and
fresh-water route will be the popular line of march when
gold-hunters become familiar with its merits.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS.
213
CHAPTER XII.
INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
KEW feature of the boundary question
has arisen out ©f the inabihty of the geo-
graphical commission of the United
States to agree with the determination
of the Canadian land surveyor, William
Ogilvie, as to the exact location of the
141st meridian line, which, by the treaty
of St. Petersburg, divides Alaska from
the British possessions. This seems to
the unscientific a very trivial thing to
differ upon, as the whole amount of land involved is at
the most a strip of a few hundred feet, and in face of the
fact that the real issue is the location of the coast boun-
dary.
Mr. Ogilvie has had the matter in hand since 1887,
and his work has been very thorough and doubtless con-
scientious. It has become necessary since the valuable
discoveries on Forty-Mile creek to fix the line definitely
and for some reason — patriotism, real or mistaken, or a
difference in calculations — the commission has so far
failed to agree on the exact location of the meridian.
During the spring, summer and autumn the continuous
twilight — at midsummer daylight — renders invisible the
stars that are necessary for accurate observation. Were
telegraphic communication established with the south
and east the portion of the meridian practically
necessar}^ to locate could be laid down, with a prob-
able error of not exceeding, say, ten feet; but with the
214 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
only means at present available the result of a season's
observation by two of the most experienced observers
may differ many hundred yards. Unfavorable meteor-
ological conditions are also serious obstacles to the work
in hand.
The first attempt at defining the Alaskan boundary
was made by Lieut. Schwatka, who in 1883 made a rough
and necessarily crude survey of the Lewes and Pelly-
Yukon rivers from their head to Fort Yukon, situated
near the mouth of Porcupine river, a distance of about
500 miles. Lieut. Schwatka determined the position of
this meridian line from his survey and located it at the
mouth of what is now known as Mission or American
creek, on the headwaters of which valuable discoveries
of gold were made on the Alaskan side.
But in consequence of numerous representations to
the Canadian government and British demands for
claims in the gold fields of the Yukon basin, it was de-
termined to send in a joint geographical and geological
survey to thoroughly examine that portion of the Yukon
region lying in British territory. For this purpose Dr.
G. M. Dawson, director of the geographical survey of
Canada, was deputed to make the geological and Mr.
Ogilvie the geographical survey. Dr. Dawson's obser-
vations were confined to the Pelly and Lewes rivers, but
Mr. Ogilvie carefully examined the entire country from
Pyramid island and Chilkat inlet — at the head of the
Lynn canal — to the head of Dyea inlet, thence over the
Chilkoot pass and down the lakes and rapids of the
Lewes and Yukon rivers to the vicinity of the 141st me-
ridian. The result of Mr. Ogilvie's observations was to
fix the meridian fifteen miles higher up the Yukon river
and nine miles farther east than Lieut. Schwatka's deter-
mination, which latter, however, is not, from the nature
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 215
of the survey, entitled to consideration as a practical
line.
In 1889 our government decided to verify Mr. Ogil-
vie's determination and dispatched two members of the
coast-survey staff — Messrs. McGrath and Turner — to
Alaska to determine by astronomical observation the po-
sition of the much-sought meridian line on the Yukon
and also on the Porcupine river. The result of the ob-
servations was at first in favor of Canada, as against Mr.
Ogilvie's determination, and located the boundary con-
siderably farther w^est — otherwise, into Alaska — than the
latter gentleman had done. Lately, however, a revision
of Mr. McGrath's computations locates the disputed line
at a point far east of ^Mr. Ogilvie's, which circumstance
has largely contributed to the present difficulty.
With the rapid development of this locality it is unfor-
tunate that this line has not been fixed, but the real rea-
son for the present uncertain condition of things is in
the isolation and lack of means of communication.
In the meantime the Canadian mounted police are
maintaining order and making judicial awards in mining
disputes, without any particular regard for the line. In
relation to this question the wish is often expressed that
the contention will be finally settled by our government
buying all the Canadian territory west of the ^lackenzie
and north of Portland canal.
It has always been currently reported and believed
that the international line crossed at about Forty Mile
post, leaving that point just within Canadian territory,
but instead of this Mr. Ogilvie's observations reveal that
the meridian at this latitude is nearly forty miles up the
creek, thus giving to his government fully one-half of
this particular placer district. Much disappointment is
216 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
expressed at this revelation, as most of the miners are
Americans.
The United States officials at Washington say that
there is no necessity for the miners in the Klondike dis-
trict to mix jingoism with placer mining. They say
there is no manner of doubt but that the Klondike dig-
gings are far enough east of the international boundary
line to bring them wholly within the Northwest terri-
tory. The Dominion cabinet insists that there is no
necessity for any discussion whatever in regard to the
location of the boundary line so far as the Klondike
region is concerned, and the Canadian officials are col-
lecting a license tax of $15 from each prospector and will
collect an annual fee of $100 for each claim worked in
the Klondike district. The customs officials are collect-
ing quite a revenue by making the American miners pay
an importation tax on the personal belongings brought
into the Klondike district.
The boundary-line dispute, while it is a matter of live
interest to the people of Alaska, has never been taken
very seriously. It is freely conceded that the Canadians
may change their maps any way they like to suit their
taste in such matters, and may afterward get what con-
solation they can cut of such maps. The line which has
been practically recognized in matters pertaining to cus-
toms and to all other frontier relations begins at the
south end of Prince of Wales island, at the natural divi-
sion afforded by Dixon entrance, and runs thence east-
ward in open water to the entrance of Portland canal,
or, as it was termed in the original agreement, Portland
channel. The line follows up this inlet to its head, which
happens to be at its intersection with the 56th parallel,
and so that degree of latitude was agreed upon as a
corner. To this point the boundary could hardly admit
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 217
of any controversy. It is true that the Canadians claim
that Behm canal was meant instead of the Portland, but
that is very unlikely, as Behm canal has no particular
head, being a strait instead of an inlet, and not being
a natural division as is the line that has always been
recognized.
At the time this line was established, which was in the
year 1825, the English had no conception of the value
or of the topography of the country. It was necessary
to fix a definite line, but the territory was esteemed of
no value, and the motives governing the transaction
were sentimental rather than practical. From the point
at the intersection of the 56th parallel it was thought fair
to continue on natural lines. The coast range of moun-
tains was known to be the continental divide or water-
shed between the Pacific and Arctic oceans. It was as-
sumed that the summit was a comparatively regular line
parallel with the coast and only a few miles back from
it, and so the agreement was made on this basis, with
the provision, however, that the Russian territory was
not to extend more than ten leagues inland. This thirty-
mile strip was to continue up the coast about 700 miles
to another natural corner which had been previously rec-
ognized in Mount St. Elias; or to the intersection of this
coast-strip limit with the 141st degree of west longitude.
From Mount St. Elias the line is due north to the frozen
ocean.
This coast strip or pan-handle of Alaska is the part
that has been in contention. Since the agreement of
1825 it has developed that the natural line which was
evidently contemplated by the convention is so irregular
as to be wholly impractical, or, rather, includes more ter-
ritory than we have ever claimed. The continental di-
vide is a zigzag line that might easily be 3,000 miles long
218 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
and still be within the corners mentioned, and varying
from twenty to 500 miles inland. In only one or two in-
stances does it approach to within thirty miles of the
coast, and the average width of the Pacific slope would
hardly fall below 100 miles.
It is reasonable, however, to think that this is the
natural line that both parties to the convention thought
they were providing for a boundary, and it is obvious
that if they had possessed full knowledge of the country
the line would have followed as nearly as possible the
summit of the range, giving Alaska a strip two or three
times wider.
As it was impossible to follow the watershed, it was
likewise impractical to parallel the coast line. Alaska is
indented by thousands of inlets, straits and arms. As it
was impossible to describe a margin that would follow
closely all these inlets, the boundary that has always been
recognized as a comparatively even line based on points
thirty miles inland from the heads of the principal inlets.
To take anything less than that for a basis — as, for in-
stance, a line drawn from headland to headland — would
give Alaska only the chain of islands and a few rocky
promontories, with the coast line broken in a hundred
places.
Any concession that our government might make to
the Canadians would be purely gratuitous, and would
be detrimental to the progress of the country. It would
make very little difference in practice to any individual
whether the country was all owned by Great Britain or
by the United States. In practical affairs there would be
no hardships experienced in living under either govern-
ment. But the people of Alaska are very loyal and in-
tensely American, and out of pure sentiment, if for no
Qther reason, would oppose any concession whatever;
SLUICING.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 221
and aside from sentiment they would have very practical
reasons for opposing a broken coast line.
Boundary lines are demoralizing and expensive any-
where, and are especially so in thinly settled and isolated
countries. Customs regulations cannot be enforced, or,
if they are maintained, they cost much more than they
"come to." As a practical illustration, some enterpris-
ing individuals shipped by way of the Chilkoot pass,
through American territory, a consignment of 150 ten-
gallon kegs of liquor in Bond. A special officer of the
revenue department was sworn in to accompany the ship-
ment to the British Columbia line at Lake Bennett,
where it was released from bond. There was absolutely
no secret about the whole plan. There was enough
whisky in the shipment to keep every man on the Cana-
dian side hilariously drunk for fifty years. When it was
released they loaded it into barges at their convenience
and quietly floated it down Lewes river to the Yukon
and to Forty Mile post, and then on into American
territory again to Circle City and all the lower Yukon
mining districts, where they retailed it to the miners and
Indians. Thus they evaded the federal customs duty and
also defeated the liquor regulations of the district. It is
estimated that, acquitting them of any intention of adul-
terating their stock, the shipment yielded $48,000.
With a broken coast line the revenue laws, the liquor
and immigration restrictions would be almost a dead
letter, and Alaska, instead of being a valuable possession
to our government and an attractive field for legitimate
enterprise, would be a thorn in her side and a veritable
Cuba for corruption.
The claims of Great Britain to a big share of Alaska
promise to occupy a large amount of public attention
for some time to come. The claim is regarded by gov-
222 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
eminent officials here as preposterous. The senate, be-
fore which the boundary question was brought as the
outcome of a treaty negotiated by Secretary Ohiey and
Sir Juhan Pauncefote, did not place itself on record in
the matter, however. Before a vote was taken congress
adjourned, so that the location of the divisional line,
which has been in dispute since 1884, is no nearer settle-
ment than it has been at any period in the last thirteen
years.
A United States government official said in regard
to the international boundary line dispute:
"On all maps from 1825 down to 1884 the boundary
line had been shown as in general terms parallel to the
winding of the coast, and thirty-five miles from it. In
1884, however, an official Canadian map showed a
marked deflection in this line at its south end. Instead
of passing up Portland channel this Canadian map
showed the boundary as passing up Behm canal, an
arm of the sea some sixty or seventy miles west of Port-
land channel, this change having been made on the bare
assertion that the words 'Portland canal/ as inserted,
were erroneous. By this change the line, and an area
of American territory about equal in size to the state of
Connecticut, was transferred to British territory. There
are three facts which go to show that this map was in-
correct. In the first place, the British admiralty, when
surveying the northern limit of the British Columbian
possessions in 1868, one year after the cession of Alaska,
surveyed Portland canal, and not Behm canal, and thus
by implication admitted this canal to be the boundary
line. Second, the region now claimed by British Colum-
bia was at that time occupied as a military post of the
United States without objection or protest on the part
of British Columbia. Third, Annette Island, in this re-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 223
gion, was by act of Congress four years ago set apart
as a reservation for the use of the Metlaktala Indians,
who sought asylum under the American flag. The very
latest Canadian map, published at Ottawa within a few
days, while it runs no line at all southeast of Alaska,
prints the legend, British Columbia, over portions of the
Lynn canal which are now administered by the United
States."
A recent report of the United States surveyors as to
the boundary line in this region said: "In substance,
these delimitations throw the diggings at the mouth of
Forty Mile creek within the territory of the United
States. The whole valley of Birch creek, another most
valuable gold-producing part of the country, is also
in the United States. Most of the gold is to the west
of the crossing of the 141st meridian at Forty Mile creek.
If we produce the 141st meridian on a chart the mouth
of Miller's creek, a tributary of Sixty Mile creek, and a
valuable gold region, is five miles west in an air line,
or seven miles, according to the winding of the stream,
all within the territory of the United States. In sub-
stance the only places in the Yukon region where gold
in quantity has been found are therefore all to the west
of the boundary line between Canada and the United
States, with the exception of the Klondike region."
Nothing can be done more than already has been done
toward marking the boundary line between Alaska and
the British possessions along the 141st meridian until
the senate passes upon the boundary treaty now before
it. There is, however, no doubt of the location of the
line along this meridian, and most people in the locality
know where it is. The demarkation work was superin-
tended by General Duffield, superintendent of the coast
and geodetic survey, on behalf of the United States. He
224 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
expresses the opinion that a railroad can be easily con-
structed from TakoLi inlet to the Klondike gold fields, and
believes that the enterprise will be worth undertaking,
because of the richness of the mines.
"The gold," said General Duffield, "has been ground
out of the quartz by the pressure of the glaciers, which
lie and move along the courses of the streams, exerting
a tremendous pressure. This force is present to a more
appreciable extent in Alaska than elsewhere, and I be-
lieve that as a consequence more placer gold will be
found in that region than in any other part of the world."
General Duffield thinks the gold hunters on the Amer-
ican side of the line have made the mistake of prospect-
ing the large streams instead of the small ones. "When
gold is precipitated/' he said, "it sinks. It does not float
far down the stream. It is therefore to be looked for
along the small creeks and about the head waters of the
larger tributaries of the Yukon. There is no reason why
as rich finds may not be made on the American side of
the line as in the Klondike district."
Prof. George Davidson, for many years at the head of
the United States geodetic survey on the Pacific coast,
speaking of the boundary line dispute, said:
"The main features of the boundary line between
Alaska and Canada are the irregular line extending from
the head of Portland inlet, in latitude 56 degrees, around
the waters of the great archipelago Alexander at a dis-
tance of not greater than ten marine leagues from the
continental shore, to the 141st meridian west of Green-
wich, and the straight line running thence to the Arctic
ocean on that meridian. Where this irregular line meets
the 141st meridian rises the great Mount St. Elias, which
is in latitude 60 degrees 17 minutes and 34.4 seconds and
longitude 140 degrees 55 minutes and 19.6 seconds. This
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 225
peak is about twenty-seven statute miles from the ocean
shore. From a point on the 141st meridian and probably
in nearly the same latitude as Mount St. Elias, the boun-
dary line runs through north to a demarkation point on
the Arctic shores, a distance of 660 statute miles. In this
great distance the line crosses comparatively few large
streams. At 100 miles it crosses the headwaters of the
White river, a tributary of the Yukon, flowing to the
north-northwest; at 205 miles an unnamed tributary of
the White river; at the last distance on the boundary
line the Yukon river lies forty miles to the eastward, at
a point known as the Upper Ramparts. The river con-
tinues on a northerly course, nearly parallel with the
boundary line for seventy-five miles, to old Fort Reli-
ance, near the Klondike, and thence trends seventy-five
miles to the northwest by north, where the boundary
line crosses it at 335 miles from Alount St. Elias.
"The headwaters of the main tributary, the Lewes
river, reach into Alaskan territory at the White pass, the
Chilkoot pass and the Chilkat pass, just north of Lynn
canal. The geographical position of Fort Reliance, an
old station of the Hudson's Bay company, on the right
bank of the Yukon river, is latitude 64 degrees 13 min-
utes, longitude 138 degrees 50 minutes, or fifty statute
miles east of the boundary line of the 141st degree. The
stream named Klondike creek enters the Yukon about
six or eight miles higher up than Fort Reliance, and on
the same side of the river. So far as known it comes from
the east-northeast for about 100 miles, and is reported
navigable by canoes for forty or fifty miles from its
mouth.
"Whatever doubt has been cast upon the position of
the whole Klondike district being in British Columbia
must have arisen from a misunderstanding of the dispute
226 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
existing upon the proper location of that part of the
boundary line lying eastward and southward of Mount
St. Elias. The north, or meridian line of the boundary
has been accurately determined. The latest information
places the independent determinations of this meridian
made by the two governments at the boundary line with-
in the width of a San Francisco pavement. So there can-
not be much if any friction between the two governments
upon this question. The only local dispute that could
possibly arise would be in the Forty-Mile creek district,
because the boundary line crosses sharp, steep mountain
ridges of 2,500 and 3,000 feet elevation, and inferior in-
strumental means might cause a slight doubt of the
direction in some instances. However, no dispute has
arisen in the district, nor is it likely that any will occur.
There is no doubt that the line has been satisfactorily
laid down."
Canadian ofBcials say that recent publications relating
to the claims of Great Britain to a large share of Alaska
are due to a misconception of the meaning of the desig-
nation, "British Columbia" and "undefined boundary" as
printed on the map issued recently.
"We refrained from plotting any boundary line in that
part of the territory constituting the coast strip running
south and east from Mount St. Elias," said the surveyor-
general of Canada. "In fact, the map was issued, as is
well understood in Toronto, at the earnest demand of the
public for reliable data as to the location of the newly dis-
covered gold fields and the best routes of access thereto.
It is compiled from the latest information and surveys
in our possession, and in so far as the physical features
of the country are concerned may be taken as correct.
So, too, is it absolutely correct as to the boundary be-
tween Alaska and our Northwest territories.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 227
"The determination of the point of intersection of the
west coast boundary line with the 141st meridian seems
to have been jointly agreed upon by American and Cana-
dian officials, for it has been authoritatively stated that
the peak of Mount St. Elias, always claimed by the United
States, was found to be about two miles on the Canadian
side of the point of intersection of the true boundary lines,
but that Great Britain had agreed to allow the
peak of the mountains to mark the point of intersec-
tion of the coast and meridian boundary lines. Canadian
surveyors have marked the boundary at the most import-
ant points in the Yukon country for the convenience of
officials,
"The report of the United States surveyors shows that
there is no appreciable difference between the determina-
tions of the two parties. On our map just issued you will
see Birch creek marked wholly within Alaska, the mouth
of it being some 350 miles west of the 141st meridian,
as we have laid it down; neither can there be any dispute
as to the boundary crossing of Forty Mile creek. In fact,
I may tell you the exact difference there between the two
surveys is six feet. There is, therefore, no shadow of
foundation for this revival of the exploded story of Cana-
dian land grabbing."
22S
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
tensified in
tries by
fringe of
CHAPTER XIIL
COLD WINTERS AND SHORT SUMMERS.
NDER the direction of Secretary of Agri-
culture Wilson, Prof. IMoore, chief of the
weather bureau, has made public a state-
ment in regard to the climate of Alaska.
He says:
"The climates of the coast and of the
interior of Alaska are unlike in many re-
spects, and the differences are in-
this as perhaps in few other coun-
exceptional physical conditions. The
islands that separates the mainland
from the Pacific ocean from Dixon sound north
and also a strip of the mainland for possibly twenty miles
back from the sea, following the sweep of the coast as it
curves in a northwesterly direction to the western ex-
tremity of Alaska, forms a distinct climatic division,
which may be termed temperate Alaska. The tempera-
ture rarely falls to zero; winter does not set in until De-
cember I, and by the last of Alay the snow has disap-
peared, except on the mountains. The mean winter tem-
perature of Sitka is 32.5 degrees — but little lower than
that of Washington, D. C.
"The rainfall of temperate Alaska is noted the world
over, not only as regards the quantity that falls, but also
as to the manner of its falling — in long and incessant
rains and drizzles. Cloud and fog naturally abound,
there being on an average but sixty-six clear days in the
year. North of the Aleutian islands the coast climate
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 231
becomes more rigorous in winter, but in summer the dif-
ference is much less marked.
"The cHmate of the interior, including in that desig-
nation practically all of the country except a narrow
fringe of coast margin and the territory' before referred
to as temperate Alaska, is one of extreme rigor in winter,
with a short but relatively hot summer, especially when
the sky is free from cloud.
"In the Klondike region in midwinter the sun rises
from 9:30 to 10 a. m. and sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the total
length of daylight being about four hours. Remember-
ing that the sun rises but a few degrees above the horizon
and that it is wholly obscured on a great many days, the
character of the winter months may easily be imagined.
We are indebted to the United States coast and geodetic
survey for a series of six months' observations on the
Yukon, not far from the site of the present gold dis-
coveries. The obsei"vations were made with standard
instruments and are wholly reliable.
"The mean temperatures of the months from October,
1889, to April, 1890, both inclusive, are as follows:
"October, 33 degrees; November, 8 degrees; Decem-
ber, II degrees below zero; January, 17 below zero;
February, 15 below zero; March, 6 above; April, 20
above. The daily mean temperature fell and remained
below the freezing point (32 degrees) from November 4,
1889, to April 21, 1890, thus giving 168 days as the length
of the closed season of 1889-90, assuming that outdoor
operations are controlled by temperature only. The
lowest temperatures registered during the winter were
32 degrees below zero in November, 47 below in Decem-
ber, 59 below in January, 55 below in February, 45 below
in March and 26 below in April. The greatest continu-
ous cold occurred in February, 1890, when the daily
12
232 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
mean for five consecutive days was 47 degrees belov/
zero.
"Greater cold than that here noted has been experi-
enced in the United States for a very short time, but
never has it continued so very cold for so long a time.
In the interior of Alaska the winter sets in as early as
September, when snowstorms may be expected in the
mountains and passes. Headway during one of those
storms is impossible, and the traveler who is overtaken by
one of them is fortunate if he escapes with his life. Snow-
storms of great severity may occur in any month from
September to May, inclusive.
"The changes of temperature from winter to summer
are rapid, owing to the great increase in the length of
the day. In May the sun rises at about 3 a. m. and sets
about 9 p. m. In June it rises at 1 130 o'clock in the morn-
ing and sets about 10:30 o'clock, giving about twenty
hours of daylight, and dififuses twilight the remainder of
the time. The mean summer temperature in the interior
doubtless ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according
to elevation, being highest in the middle and lower Yu-
kon valleys."
The average temperature at Fort Cudahy, as reported
by the North American Transportation and Trading
company, during the months of November, December,
January and February last year, was very close to 20
degrees below zero. The average for November was
17^ degrees below zero; for December and January, 22
below, and for February about 20 below. The lowest
temperature recorded was 70 degrees below zero. The
temperature for the month of September was about zero.
The snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only
about two feet during the winter, although it is as much
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 233
as twenty feet along the coast, where the influence of the
Japan current is felt.
The mean temperature of the air and of the surface
sea-water and the precipitation for each month of the
year at Sitka are thus given by the United States coast
and geodetic survey in its Alaska "Coast Pilots" of 1883
and 1891:
Temp, of
Temp, of surface Precipita-
the air, sea-water. tion.
January 31.4 39.0 7.35
February 32.9 39.0 6.45
March 35.7 35.5 5.29
April 40.8 42.0 5.17
May 47.0 46.5 4.13
June 52.4 48.0 3.62
July 55-5 49-0 4-i9
August 55.9 50.0 6.96
September 51.5 51.5 9.66
October 44.9 48.9 11.83
November 38.1 44.4 8.65
December 33.3 41.7 8.39
Year 43.3 45.0 81.69
Assistant Surgeon A. E. Wells of the Northwestern
mounted police, in his report to the Canadian govern-
ment, 1895, VvTote: "It may be of interest to mention
something concerning the climate, mode of living of the
people generally, and diseases met with.
"The climate is wet. The rainfall last summer was
heavy. Although there is almost a continuous sun in
summer time, evaporation is very slow owing to the
thick moss which will not conduct the heat, in conse-
quence the ground is always swampy. It is only after
several years of draining that ground will become suffi-
ciently dry to allow the frost to go out, and then only for
234 TH3 CHICAGO RECORD'S
a few feet. During- tlie winter months the cold is in-
tense, wnth usually considerable wind.
"A heavy mist rising from open places in the river
settles down in the valley in calm extreme weather. This
dampness makes the cold to be felt much more and is con-
ducive to rheumatic pains, colds, etc.
"Miners are a very mixed class of people. They rep-
resent many nationalities and come from all climates.
Their lives are certainly not enviable. The regulation
'miners' cabin' is twelve by fourteen feet, with walls
six feet and gables eight feet in height. The roof is
heavily earthed, and the cabin is generally very warm.
Two, and sometimes three or four men, will occupy a
house of this size. The ventilation is usually bad. Those
miners who do not work their claims during the winter
confine themselves in these small huts most of the time.
"Very often they become indolent and careless, only
eating those things which are most easily cooked or pre-
pared. During the busy time in summer when they are
'shoveling in,' they work hard and for long hours, sparing
little time for eating and much less for cooking.
"This manner of living is quite common amongst be-
ginners, and soon leads to debility and sometimes to
scurvy. Old miners have learned from experience to
value health more than gold, and they therefore spare
no expense in procuring the best and most varied out-
fit of food that can be obtained.
"In a cold climate such as this, where it is impossible
to get fresh vegetables and fruits, it is most important
that the best substitutes for these should be provided.
Nature helps to supply these wants by growing cranber-
ries and other wild fruits in abundance, but men in sum-
mer are usually too busy to avail themselves of these.
"The diseases met with in this country are dyspepsia,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 235
anaemia, scurvy, caused by improperly cooked food,
sameness of diet, overwork, want of fresh vegetables,
overheated and badly ventilated houses; rheumatism,
pneumonia, bronchitis, enteritis, cystitis and other acute
diseases, from exposure to wet and cold; debility and
chronic diseases due to excesses. One case of typhoid
fever occurred in Forty Mile last fall, probably due to
drinking water polluted with decayed vegetable matter.
"In selecting men to relieve in this country I beg to
submit a few remarks, some of which will be of assistance
to the medical examiners in making their recommenda-
tions.
"Men should be sober, strong and healthy. They
should be practical men, able to adapt themselves quickly
to their surroundings. Special care should be taken to
see that their lungs are sound, that they are free from
rheumatism and rheumatic tendency, and that their
joints, especially knee joints, are strong and have never
been weakened by injury, synovitis or other disease. It
is also very important to consider their temperaments.
Men should be of cheerful, hopeful dispositions and will-
ing workers. Those of sullen, morose natures, although
they may be good workers, are very apt, as soon as the
novelty of the country wears off, to become dissatisfied,
pessimistic and melancholy."
Numerous letters from Dawson City and Circle City
speak of scurvy as a disease which in the winter time
seems to be prevalent. In almost every instance the
writer urges that lime-juice should form one of the essen-
tials in the Klondiker's pack.
According to the accepted medical authority, scurvy
is the result of an insufficient supply of potash salts,
owing to an inadequate diet of fresh vegetables. But
the mere administration of these salts will not prevent
236 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
or cure the disease, which is a dreadful one if not
checked. The symptoms come on gradually, being rec-
ognized by a failure of strength and exhaustion at slight
exertion. The countenance becomes sallow or dusky,
eyes sunken, and constant pains are felt in all the mus-
cles. After some weeks utter prostration ensues; the
appearance is most haggard; great trouble is experi-
enced with the mouth, sore gums, and teeth falling out;
the breath is extremely offensive; finally come swell-
ings and dark spots on the body, with bleeding from
the mucous membrane; then painful, extensive and de-
structive ulcers break out on the limbs; finally diarrhoea,
pulmonary or kidney trouble may give fatal result. But
even in desperate cases a return to fresh vegetable diet
will cure, as will also, usually, lime juice. Lime juice
has driven scurvy from the ocean, where it once counted
its dead in every far-going ship's annals. It is now a
slang term to describe an old salt. Sailors at sea are
given a small daily allowance of lime juice (which is gen-
erally badly adulterated), and they swallow it with a
little water at meals.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 237
CHAPTER XIV.
PROF. SPURR'S REPORT.
11 ARLY in 1896 the United States govern-
ment sent Prof. J. S. Spurr, H. B. Good-
rich and F. C. Schrader, of the Geolog-
ical Survey, into the Yukon district. The
chief of the survey was Prof. Spurr.
Soon after the news from the Klondike
was received in this country Prof. Spurr
anticipated the report he is to make to
the chief of his department by writing a statement for
the information of those who were seized with the gold
fever. The statement reads as follows :
"Much has been written of late concerning the possi-
bilities of Alaska as a gold-producing country. As a
matter of fact, the production of the present year may
be roughly estimated at $3,000,000; this amount, how-
ever, comes from an immense region of half a million
square miles, or about one-quarter as large as the United
States. Of the mines which produce this gold, some are
in the bed-rock, while others are placer diggings.
"The bedrock mines are few in number and situated
on the southeast coast, which is the most accessible part
of the territory. The chief one is the great Treadwell
mine near Juneau, and there are also important mines
at Berner's bay, at the Island of Unga and other places.
The latest strike is the Klondike. Most of these mines,
however, are in low-grade ore, and the production is
only made profitable by means of careful management
and operations on a very large scale.
23S THE CHICAGO RECORDS
"The placer mines are those which occupy the most
prominent place in the popular mind, since they are re-
mote from civilization and in a country about which
little is known, and which is, on account of this uncer-
tainty, dangerously attractive to the average man. This
gold-producing country of the interior is mostly in the
vicinity of the Yukon river or of some of its immediate
tributaries.
"The most productive districts before the Klondike
discovery have been the Forty Mile district, which lies
partly in American and partly in British territory, and
the Birch creek district, which lies in American territory.
Some gold diggings are also supposed to exist on Stew-
art river, and some gold has been shipped from the
Koykuk. During the latter part of the past season dig-
gings were also found on the Klundek and Indian rivers
near Forty Mile.
"Another place concerning which there have been
many vague rumors of gold, causing a stampede of many
unprepared and unfitted men, is the Cook Inlet country,
which lies on the coast above the mouth of Copper river,
a situation remote alike from the mines near Juneau
and from the placer mines on the Yukon.
"In all this immense country over which placer dig-
ging is carried on, or has been carried on, I estimate
that there are about 2,000 miners. They are mostly in
the Yukon districts. These districts lie in a broad belt
of gold-producing rocks, having a considerable width
and extending in a general east and west direction for
several hundred miles. Throughout this belt occur quartz
veins which carry gold, but so far as yet found the ore
is of low grade, and a large proportion of the veins have
been so broken by movements in the rocks that they can-
not be followed. For this reason the mines in the bed
COPPER RIVER GOLD DISTRICT.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 241
rock cannot be worked, except on a large scale with im-
proved machinery, and even such operations are impos-
sible until the general conditions of the country, in refer-
ence to transportation and supplies, are improved.
"Through the gold-bearing rocks the streams have
cut deep gullies and canyons, and in their beds the gold
which was contained in the rocks which have been worn
away is concentrated, so that from a large amount of
very low-grade rock there may be formed in places a
gravel sufficiently rich in gold to repay washing. All
the mining which is done in this country, therefore, con-
sists in the washing out of these gravels.
"In each gulch on the American side prospectors are
at liberty to stake out claims not already taken, the size
of the claims being determined by vote of all the miners
in each gulch, according to the richness of the gravel.
The usual length of a claim is about 500 feet along the
stream and the total width of the gulch bed, which is
ordinarily narrow. When a prospector has thus staked
out his claim, it is recorded by one of the miners, who
is elected by his fellows in each gulch for that purpose,
and this secures him sufficient title. The miners' laws
are practically the entire government in these districts,
for the remoteness prevents any systematic communica-
tion being carried on with the United States. All ques-
tions and disputes are settled by miners' meetings, and
the question in dispute is put to popular vote.
"In prospecting the elementary method of panning is
used to discover the presence of gold in gravel, but after
a claim is staked and systematic work begun, long sluice
boxes are built of boards, the miners being obliged to
fell the trees themselves and saw out the lumber with
whip saws, a very laborious kind of work.
"The depth of gravel in the bottom of the gulches
242 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
varies from a foot up to twenty or thirty feet, and when
it is deeper than the latter figure it cannot be worked.
The upper part of the gravel is barren, and the pay-
dirt lies directly upon the rock beneath, and is generally
very thin. To get at this pay-dirt all the upper gravel
must be shoveled ofi, and this preliminary work often
requires an entire season, even in a very small claim.
When the gravel is deeper than a certain amount — say
ten feet — the task of removing it becomes formidable.
In this case the pay-dirt can sometimes be got at in the
winter season when the gravels are frozen hard by sink-
ing shafts through these gravels and drifting along the
pay-dirt.
"The pay-dirt thus removed is taken to the surface
and washed out in sluices when the warm weather be-
gins. This underground working is done by burning in-
stead of blasting and picking. A fire is built close to
the frozen gravel, and when it is sufficiently thawed it
is shoveled out and removed. The stripping off of the
upper gravels, which has been mentioned, can be done
only in the comparatively short summer season when the
surface thaws.
"The ordinary method of getting into the Yukon coun-
try is by crossing the Chilkoot Pass from Juneau down
the Lewes and Yukon rivers to the gold districts. The
usual time for starting is in April, and a large part of
the journey is made over ice which fills the lakes and
rivers at this time of year. By this early starting a large
part of the season available for working is obtained.
Not every comer can find new diggings which are profit-
able, and many of them are glad to work for wages.
"The ordinary wages in summer are $io per day, but
sixty days is considered about the average for summer
work; so that the total earnings are not so great as will
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 243
appear at first sight, and the prospects for work during
the remainder of the year are slight. The journe}' over
the pass and down the Yukon is one of great difficulty
and hardship, especially as all supplies have to be carried
along. The pass itself is difficult to cross, the lakes are
subject to violent gales, and there are a number of very
dangerous rapids. Once in the country the newcomer
finds himself no more comfortable.
"During the summer season, when the days sometimes
are really hot, there are swarms of mosquitoes and gnats
which have not their equal in the world, and which are
enough alone to discourage most men. I have heard
stories, which I can readily believe to be true, of strong
and hardy men being so tormented by these pests while
on the trail through the swamp to the Birch creek dig-
gings, that they broke down and sobbed in utter dis-
gust. The method of reaching these and other diggings
consists partly in pulling a loaded boat against a swift
stream, and often over rapids, and partly in trudging
through the swamp or over a rough mountain trail with
a heavy load on one's back. In winter the thermometer
falls so low that it cannot be measured by any available
means. It is certain, however, that it reaches 70 degrees
below zero. During all this winter season very little can
be done, and as darkness exists most of the time life often
seems intolerable.
"The actual expenses of getting into the country are
considerable. Indians must be hired to do a part or the
whole of the transportation of supplies across the Chil-
koot Pass at very high wages, and the cost of the neces-
sary outfit is in itself considerable. On arriving at the
diggings provisions are often not obtainable at any price;
or, if they are to be had, the variety is slight. The sup-
244 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ply is always uncertain, depending upon the lateness of
the spring and of the fall.
"Owing to the difficulty in bringing in supplies, prices
are very high at the river posts, and much higher in the
diggings. The freight alone from the coast to the dig-
gings costs as high as 50 cents a pound, so that when
one eats potatoes at $1 a pound and bacon at 85 cents
a pound, other things in proportion, the cost of living is
enormous, and even employment at $10 per day for sixty
days out of the year will not enable a man to grow rich
very rapidly. Even employment for wages, moreover,
is scarce, there being several applicants for every job.
Owing to the high price of supplies, no claim that does
not pay at least $10 a day to each man working can be
worked except at a loss. ]\Iany competent men who
engage in mining here and work faithfully experience
failures, and are unable to earn enough to buy provi-
sions.
"In such a situation it is very difficult to make one's
way out of the country, for the journey up the river along
the usual route requires upward of thirty days' hard
work, and provisions must be brought for the trip. The
trip down the river and back to civilization by steamer
is very expensive, and of late years the number seeking
to get out in that way exceeded the carrying capacity of
the few steamers. Last year fully 150 men who w^ished
and intended to leave the country by steamer w'ere un-
able to do so, and are still there.
"Under the conditions which now exist there are quite
enough in the Yukon district already, and the object of
this article is to discourage people from rushing there
without due consideration. Probably ninety-nine out of
every hundred men are unfitted by nature for such a life
as Yukon mining necessitates, and had much better never
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 245
make the attempt. The hundredth man must be a miner
and frontiersman by nature, strong and patient, a hard
worker, and a lover of sechided hfe. Even such a man
will very likely fail on account of the large element of
chance, and the most successful miner obtains only a few
thousand dollars in profit after a number of years' patient
work.
"Any great increase in the number of men going into
the Yukon district would be disastrous, on account of the
strict limits of the food supply and facilities for trans-
portation. The result would be famine, disorder, and
failure. Several years ago this actually happened when
all the Forty-Mile miners were without food and were
obliged to travel down the Yukon over the ice to St.
Michael in the dead of winter, a terrible journey of nearly
2,000 miles. At that time there were only a few men
in the country, but if the number had been very much
larger, even this resource would have been impossible.
"My general advice to the average man intending to
go to the Yukon gold district is — to stay out. Many
men go there every year and suffer hardships, failure, loss
of capital and sometimes of health. If anyone under-
takes the trip he should take with him enough supplies
to last as long as he intends to stay — one year, two years,
or whatever amount. He should have money enough to
last him into the country and out again, if necessary, and
should start early enough in the season to enable him to
return up the river if he intends to come out the same
year, for the facilities for transportation by steamer are
likely to be entirely inadequate."
NOTE. — Since Prof. Spurr sounded this note of warn-
ing a small army of Klondikers has started for the gold
fields. Reports from Daw^son City indicate that the
labor market is glutted by miners who left other diggings
246 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
for the Klondike, and that day wages dropped from $io
and $15 to $2 and $3.
In speaking of the mining conditions of Alaska, Mr.
Spurr said:
"We examined all of the known placer deposits and the
origin of the gold in them was traced to the veins of
quartz along the head waters of the various streams en-
tering the Yukon. Sufficient data were secured to estab-
lish the presence of a gold belt 300 miles in length in
Alaska, which enters the territory near the mouth of
Forty Mile creek and extends westward across the Yukon
valley at the lower ramparts. Its further extent is un-
known.
"It is the opinion of the geologist in charge of the ex-
pedition that it is entirely practicable to prosecute quartz
mining throughout the year in this region. He also dis-
covered along the river large areas or rocks containing
hard bitumious coal.
"Running in a direction a little west of northwest
through the territory examined is a broad, continuous
belt of highly altered rocks. To the east this belt is known
to be continuous for 100 miles or more in British terri-
tory. The rocks constituting this belt are mostly crys-
talline schists, associated with marbles and sheared
quartzites, indicating a sedimentary origin for a large
part of the series. These altered sedimentary rocks have
been shattered by volcanic action, and they are pierced
by many dikes of eruptive rocks.
"In the process of mountain building the sedimentary
rocks have been subjected to such pressure and to such
alteration from attendant forces that they have been
squeezed into the condition of schist, and often partly or
wholly crystallized, so that their original character has in
some cases entirely disappeared. In summarizing, it may
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 247
be said that the rocks of the gold belt of Alaska consist
largely of sedimentary beds older than the carboniferous
period, that these beds have undergone extensive altera-
tion, and have been elevated into mountain ranges and
cut through by a variety of igneous rocks,
"Throughout these altered rocks there are found veins
of quartz often carrying pyrite and gold. It appears that
these quartz veins were formed during the disturbance
attending the uplift and alteration of the beds. IMany of
the veins have been cut, sheared and torn into fragments
by the force that has transformed the sedimentary rocks
into crystalHne schist, but there are others, containing
gold, silver and copper, that have not been very much
disturbed or broken.
"These more continuous ore-bearing zones have not
the character of ordinary quartz veins, although they con-
tain much silica. Instead of the usual white quartz veins,
the ore occurs in a sheared and altered zone of rock, and
gradually runs out on both sides. So far as yet known,
these continuous zones of ore are of relatively low grade.
Concerning the veins of wdiite quartz first mentioned, it
is certain that most of them wdiich contain gold carry it
only in small quantity, and yet some few are known to
be very rich in places, and it is extremely probable that
there are many in wdiich the whole of the ore is of com-
paratively high grade.
"The general character of the rocks and of the ore de-
posits is extremely like that of the gold-bearing forma-
tions along the southern coast of Alaska, in which the
Treadwell and other mines are situated, and it is probable
that the richness of the Yukon rocks is approximately
equal to that of the coast belt. It may be added that the
resources of the coast belt have been only partially ex-
plored.
248 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
"Since the formation of the veins and other deposits of
the rocks of the gold belt an enormous length of time has
elapsed. During that time the forces of erosion have
stripped off the overlying rocks and exposed the metal-
liferous veins at the surface for long periods, and the rocks
of the gold belt, with the veins which they include, have
crumbled and been carried away by the streams, to be
deposited in widely different places as gravels, or sands,
or mud. In Alaska the streams have been carrying
away the gold from the metalliferous belt for a very long
period, so that particles of the precious metal are found
in nearly all parts of the territory.
"It is only in the immediate vicinity of the gold-bearing
belt, however, that the particles of gold are large and
plentiful enough to repay working under present condi-
tions. Where a stream heads in the gold belt the richest
diggings are likely to be near its extreme upper part. In
this upper part the current is so swift that the lighter
material and the finer gold are carried away, leaving in
many places a rich deposit of coarse gold overlaid by
coarse gravel, the pebbles being so large as to hinder
rapid transportation by water.
"It is under such conditions that the diggings which
are now being worked are found, v/ith some unimportant
exceptions. The rich gulches of the Forty Mile district
and of the Birch creek district, as well as other fields of
less importance, all head in the gold-bearing formation.
"A short distance below the heads of these gulches the
stream valley broadens and the gravels contain finer gold,
more widely distributed. Along certain parts of the
stream this finer gold is concentrated by favorable cur-
rents, and is often profitably washed, this kind of deposit
coming under the head of 'bar diggings.' The gold in
these more extensive gravels is often present in sufficient
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 251
quantity to encourage the hope of successful extraction
at some future time, when the work can be clone more
cheaply and with suitable machinery. The extent of these
gravels, which are of possible value, is very great.
'Tt may be stated, therefore, as a general rule, that the
profitable gravels are found in the vicinity of the gold-
bearing rock. The gold-bearing belt forms a range of
low mountains, and on the flanks of these mountains, to
the northeast and to the southwest, lie various younger
rocks which range in age from carboniferous to very re-
cent tertiary, and are made up mostly of conglomerates,
sandstones and shales, with some volcanic material.
These rocks were formed subsequent to the ore deposi-
tion, and therefore do not contain metalliferous veins.
"They have been partly derived, however, from de-
tritus worn from the gold-bearing belt during the long
period that it has been exposed to erosion, and some of
them contain gold derived from the more ancient rocks
and concentrated in the same way as is the gold in the
present river gravels. In one or two places it is certain
that these conglomerates are really fossil placers, and this
source of supply may eventually turn out to be very im-
portant."
The report on the Yukon gold region by Mr. Spurr,
giving new facts and figures about the interior of the ter-
ritory, was made public recently. It is a comprehensive
document, and reviews in detail the work in the various
districts. It says as to the Forty Mile gold district, that
in the latter part of 1887 Franklin gulch was struck, and
the first year the creek is estimated to have produced
$4,000. Ever since it has been a constant payer. The
character of the gold there is nuggety, masses worth $5
being common. The yield the first year after the dis-
covery of Forty ]\Iile has been variously estimated at
13
252 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
from $75,000 to $150,000, but $60,000 probably covers
the production.
The discovery of Davis creek and a stampede from
FrankHn gulch followed in the spring of 1888. In 1891
gold mining in the interior as well as on the coast, at
Silver Bow basin and Treadwell, received a great impetus.
The chief occurrence of 1892 was the discovery of Miller
creek. In the spring of 1893 many new claims were
staked, and it is estimated that 80 men took out $100,000.
Since then Miller creek has been the heaviest producer of
the Forty Mile district, and, until recently, of the wdiole
Yukon. Its entire length lies in British possessions. The
output for 1893 as given by the mint director for the
Alaskan creeks, all but IMiller creek being in American
possessions, was $198,000, with a mining population of
196.
The total amount produced by the Yukon placers in
1894 was double that of the previous year, and was di-
vided between the two districts. In 1895 the output had
doubled again.
Forty Mile district in the summer of 1896 is described
in the report as looking as if it had seen its best days, and
unless several new creeks are discovered it will lose its old
position.
The Birch creek district was in a flourishing condition
last summer (1896). ]\Iost of the gulches were then run-
ning, miners were working on double shifts, night and
day, and many large profits were reported. On Mastodon
creek, the best producer, over 300 miners were at work,
many expecting to winter in the gulch.
As to hydraulic mining, the report says: "Some min-
ers have planned to work this and other good ground
supposed to exist under the deep covering of moss and
gravel in the wide valley of the Mammoth and Crooked
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 253
creeks by the hydraulic process, the water to be obtained
by tapping Miller and Mastodon creeks near the head. It
will be several years before the scheme can be operated,
because both of the present gulches are paying well, and
will continue to do so at least five years."
The Klondike placer miners are only gathering the
dust washed ofi nature's great gold reserve in the Alaskan
mountains. This dust is found in the gravel of the little
streams. It comes from a formation called the conglom-
erate, which is incomparably richer in nuggets and par-
ticles of gold than the gravel. When the miners find it
no longer profitable to wash out the gravel, they can at-
tack the conglomerate, where they will be able to accom-
plish something by hand labor. Finally, there is the
original source of gold — the veins in the hills. These
must be of enormous value. They must lie untouched
until the proper machinery for obtaining the gold is
erected.
A clear, scientific and authoritative explanation of the
geological conditions of the Klondike and neighboring
gold-bearing rocks was furnished by Professor S. F. Em-
mons, of the United States geological survey, to the New
York Herald. Professor Emmons said:
"The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as
yet untouched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the
particles found in the river gravels now being washed
by the Klondike miners have been torn by the erosion of
streams. These particles, being heavy, have been de-
posited by the streams which carried the lighter matter
onward to the ocean, thus forming by gradual accumu-
lation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. Many of the bits,
especially in certain localities, are big enough to be called
nuggets.
"In spots the gravels are so rich that, as we have all
254 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are obtained
from the washing of a single panful. That is what is mak-
ing the people so wild — the prospect of picking money
out of the dirt by the handful literally.
"But all this is merely the skimming of grease from
the pot; the soup remains, the precious rich soup it is.
The bulk of the wealth is in the rocks of the hills, waiting
only for proper machinery to take it out. For you must
remember that the gold was originally stored in veins
of the rocks, which are of an exceedingly ancient forma-
tion. Nobody can say how many millions of years ago the
metal was put there^ but it must have been an enormously
long time back.
"The streams wore away the rocks, carrying gold with
them, and this process continued for ages, making im-
mense deposits of rich, gold-bearing gravels. Eventually
these deposits were themselves transformed into rock —
a sort of conglomerate in which pebbles small and big are
mixed with what was once sand. To-day the strata com-
posed of this conglomerate are of immense extent and
unknown thickness. The formation closely resembles
that of the auriferous 'banket' or pudding stone of the
South African gold fields; but the South African pudding
stone was in far remote antiquity a sea beach, whereas
the Alaskan formation is a deposit made by steams, as
I have said.
"In a later epoch the stream continued to gnaw away
at the hills, bringing down more gold and leaving it be-
hind in the gravels of their bottoms. It is these compara-
tively modern rivers which are responsible for the pay
dirt of the Klondike district and of all that region. Nat-
urally, because it was easily got at and worked, the min-
ers have struck this surface alluvium first. The streams
at various times have followed different courses, and it is
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 255
in the gravels of the dry and disused channels that the
gold miners dig with such fabulous profit.
"You will observe from what I have said that the gold
of that region exists under three widely different condi-
tions— in the gravels, in the conglomerate or pudding
stone and in the ancient rocks of the hills. When the
modern stream deposits, now being worked, are used up,
the miner can tackle the conglomerate, which represents
the gravels of ages ago. Finally, when they are provided
with the requisite machinery, they will be in a position to
attack the masses of yellow wealth that are stored in the
veins of the mountains. At present we can hardly con-
sider that the first bite has been taken of the golden feast
which Alaska oflfers to hungry man."
For many years Indians have brought out of the Cop-
per river district in Alaska furs, copper and gold. The
Copper Indians are a ferocious tribe, much resembling
the Sioux in stature, and during the last few years have
become well equipped with guns and ammunition.
Knowing the value of their rich stakes, and that the
ingress of white men would mean their retirement, the
Indians have steadfastly refused to permit a single white
man to explore their country. Every man making the
attempt has been told to keep out, and when he persisted
has been killed.
The Copper river tribe numbers nearly i,ooo, and as
they have been well able to carry out their threats, no
attempt to molest them has been made in recent years.
Now, however, it is proposed to teach these natives that
white men must eventually be allowed to prospect and
take out the mineral riches of their domain.
One hundred men, thoroughly armed, will go to Cook
inlet from Port Townsend. They will be led thence into
the Copper river section by Judge Joseph Kuhn, who has
256 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
been collecting data regarding Copper river for years
and was the originator of the project. Capitalists, it
is said, are advancing part of the money required, but to
make the success more certain the expedition is being
organized on a co-operative basis, so each man will have
a direct interest. Each man enlisting is required to put
up several hundred dollars, which goes to a common
fund with which to buy a schooner, arms and supplies
for two years. The Indians will not be molested unless
they attack the exploring party. Traditions of the last
sixty years have ascribed great mineral wealth to the
Copper river country. At Sitka it is said that in 1831
a Russian trader invaded that section with eight men.
They were killed when within a two days' march to the
seacoast.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 257
CHAPTER XV.
MAIL SERVICE IN THE KLONDIKE.
AILY mail deliveries are something that can
scarcely be expected by the Klondikers.
Arrangements, however, have been made
to carry the mail between "home" and the
gold diggings in the Yukon district. A
mail service has been established be-
tween Juneau and Circle City, and doubt-
less this soon will be extended to the Klondike district.
As the mails pass backwards and forwards across the
boundary line, postage paid in the United States takes
mail across the boundary line, and vice versa.
Postmaster Charles U. Gordon of Chicago, in response
to a request from the CHICAGO RECORD for infor-
mation regarding the sending of letters to the Klondike
region, replied:
"Letters cannot be sent by United States mail to Daw-
son City, Forty Mile or other towns in British territory.
Mail matter for Dawson City, Northwest territory, not
being a known postofhce, should be addressed Via' some
United States postofhce, viz: Dyea, Alaska; Unalaska,
or Circle City, Alaska. Sent to one of these Alaskan
postofhces, it goes to Circle City by way of Dyea, over
the overland route; by way of Unalaska by the Yukon
route.
"A mail steamer leaves Seattle every five days for
Juneau, 120 miles from Dyea, and every fourteen days
from Sitka for Unalaska. A Canadian Pacific steamer
258 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
will leave Victoria for Dyea, by way of Juneau, every
few weeks during the fall. The route overland by way
of Edmonton, Northwest territory, is not feasible, as yet,
although there appears to be some travel coming this
way."
Five carriers have been appointed for the Juneau-
Circle City route, and one will leave each end of the mail
route on or about the first of each month. The carriers
are P. C. Richardson, F. W. Hoyt, J. W. Demars, G.
P. Sproul and John Brauer. This mail service is for
United States mail addressed to Circle City. Mail of
Dawson, Forty-Mile and Fort Cudahy will not be car-
ried in this mail, as these points are in Canadian territory.
Communication with these points is irregular and diffi-
cult, but arrangements have been made to forward mail
from Circle City by the Arctic express company.
The schedule for carriers between Juneau and Circle
City is as follows:
Date. Juneau. Circle City.
August Demars Hoyt
September Sproul Brauer
October Hoyt Demars
November Brauer Sproul
December Demars Hoyt
January Sproul Brauer
February Hoyt Demars
March Brauer Sproul
April Demars Hoyt
May Sproul Brauer
June Hoyt Demars
Since July i, contracts for mail over what is known as
"the overland route" from Juneau to Circle City have
been made by the postoffice department. The round trip
over the Chilkoot pass and by way of the chain of lakes
THE FIRST PAN.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 261
and the Lewes river takes about a month, the distance
being about 900 miles. The cost is about $600 for the
round trip. The Chilkoot pass is crossed with the mail
by means of Indian carriers. On the previous trips the
carriers, after finishing the pass, built their boats,
but they now have their own to pass the lakes and the
Lewes river.
In the winter transportation is carried on by means
of dog sleds, and it is hoped that under the present con-
tracts there will be no stoppage, no matter how low the
temperature may go. The contractor has reported that
he was sending a boat, in sections, by way of St. Michael,
up the Yukon river, to be used on the waterway of the
route, and it is thought much time will be saved by this,
as in former times it was necessary for the carriers to
stop and build boats or rafts to pass the lakes.
In addition to this for the summer season contracts
have been made with two steamboat companies for two
trips from Seattle to St. Michael, and three from there
to Seattle. When the steamers reach St. Michael, the
mail will be transferred from the steamers to the flat-
bottomed boats running up the Yukon as far as Circle
City. It is believed the boats now run further up.
The contracts for the overland route call for only first-
class matter, whereas the steamers in the summer season
carry everything up to five tons a trip.
Some extracts from the olBcial report of the second
assistant postmaster general for the fiscal year ending
June I, 1896, will prove of interest. Under date of Sep-
tember 23, 1896, Contractor Beddoe wrote to the depart-
ment concerning the trip to Circle City, the establishment
of that postoffice having been authorized March 19,
1896.
262 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
He says: "I have just returned from my first round
trip through to Circle City with the United States mail,
under contract route No. 78103, and in accordance with
your instructions, corroborating- those received through
the superintendent of the Pacific coast, at Seattle, I de-
livered the return mail from Circle City to the postmaster
at Seattle and accompanied to Juneau such mail as re-
mained for that point.
"I have already delivered (or have en route) the mail
for June, July, August and September. It will be im-
possible for any other mail to leave here until spring,
outside of the winter contract.
"If you were familiar with the conditions which ob-
tain in the Yukon you would be in a better position to
regulate the dates of departure and arrival for said ser-
vice. For instance, I left this point (Juneau) on June 10
for Dyea; for sixteen hours it was impossible to land
owing to storms, and as the landing is made in small
boats, the conditions must be favorable. I took with me
sufficient lumber to build two boats; the ones I had
already built could not be taken over the summit in con-
sequence of excessive snow storms. Upon my arrival
at the base of the summit the Indian packers refused to
go over with the lumber. I was compelled to abandon
it there, having paid $67.50 for packing it.
"The packing of supplies, etc., cost $320 additional.
However, I pushed on and upon arriving at Lake Linde-
man, a distance of thirty miles, I built a raft, there being
no lumber in that locality, and upon this raft we jour-
neyed to Lake Bennett, where we found sufficient lumber
to build a boat. A start was made in five days after ar-
rival, although the lumber had to be cut from the trees,
and from there on we traveled day and night until our
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. litiS
destination, Circle City, was reached and the mails de-
livered in good order.
"The question now was to get the return mail to Ju-
neau the quickest moment. It was impossible to start
up the river in consequence of the rapid water, the cur-
rent averaging eight miles an hour for 500 miles. If I
remained in Circle City until July 30 it would probably
take forty-five days to pole the boat up the river. I there-
fore decided to go down to St. Michael and come out
through Bering sea. I was fortunate in getting there
in time for the steamship Portland, which sailed from
that point to Seattle, via Unalaska — 3,500 miles. At
Seattle I took the Alki and reached here in due course,
having traveled 6,500 miles in addition to the regular
trip, and saving thereby over a month of time in the de-
livery of the return mail; and I owe it to myself to say
that I was the last trip man into the Yukon and the first
one out this season, which is evidence that no unnecessary
delay occurred.
"This Yukon trip is a terrible one, the current of the
river even attaining ten miles an hour. Miles canyon is a
veritable death trap into which one is likely to be drawn
without notice, and the White Horse rapids, known as
the miners' grave, to say nothing of the Five Fingers and
Rink rapids, both of which are very dangerous. All of
these dangers are aggravated by reason of the defective
maps and reports of the country.
"It is my intention to submit to the department a map
with many corrections, although in the absence of a
proper survey it will necessarily be only an approximate
reflection of the river's course. You are probably not
aware that for a distance of 150 miles, commencing at
Circle City, and going north, the river is fifty miles be-
264 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
tween banks, and contains thousands of islands, very few
of which appear on any map.
"It is impossible to perform this mail contract without
having at least three parties fully equipped, the distance
being so great and it being out of the question for the
first party to return in time to depart with the succeed-
ing mail, and the expense of each will be about the same.
I shall have made four round trips by the end of this
month. The last mail in should arrive at Circle City in
one week from now. The return mails I am looking for
daily. At the end of this month the north end of the
Yukon river will freeze and the ice will gradually form
to the south, and the same, as a waterway, will become
impassable and rem.ain so until midwinter,"
The Western Union telegraph company is considering
the advisability of stringing a wire from Juneau to Daw-
son City. A San Francisco company has been formed
for the purpose of connecting Juneau and Dawson City
with a telegraph and telephone wire. The line, accord-
ing to the plan, is to be constructed on the same plan
as the ordinary military line used by armies in the field.
The wire will be a quarter of an inch thick, and covered
with a certain kind of insulation which it is said has
proved thoroughly able to withstand the rigorous cli-
matic conditions prevailing in Alaska. The wire is to
wind upon large reels, and these reels are to be placed
on dog sleds and dragged over the ice and snow. It is
proposed simply to pay out the loose wire and let it lie
on the ground, with the expectation of running the line
through from terminal to terminal in six weeks.
The route by way of Chilkoot and the Lewes and Yu-
kon as far as the Pelly river has been thoroughly ex-
plored by the Western Union telegraph company. Mike
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 265
LeBarge, after whom Lake LeBarge was named, was en-
gaged by the company to explore the river and adjacent
country for the purpose of connecting Europe and Amer-
ica by telegraph through British Columbia and Alaska
and across Bering strait to Asia, and thence to Europe.
This exploration took place in 1867, but the successful
laying of the Atlantic cable in 1866 put a stop to this
project.
266 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER XVI.
LIFE IN DAWSON CITY.
ACCORDING to men who have re-
turned from the Klondike country,
\\|«1SS5=>--nJ[^ \ the vahies attached to flour, meats,
'' - ' ' "^ eggs, sugar, etc., by Dawson City
traders are not so "steep" as some re-
ports have indicated. Hundreds of
stories about high prices in Dawson
City have gone the length and breadth
of the country since the Klondike
fever broke out, and Joseph Ladue, the founder of Daw-
son City, and the owner of the townsite, takes exceptions
to what he calls "exaggerations," He says that prices in
Dawson City, everything considered, are reasonable.
Following is a Dawson City price list:
Flour, per lOO lbs $ 12 00
Sugar, brown, per pound 20
Sugar, granulated, per pound 25
Rice, per pound 20
Oatmeal, per pound 25
Bacon, per pound i 50
Condensed milk, per can 60
Butter, per pound i 50
Eggs, per dozen 5 00
Beans, per pound 12^
Salt, per pound 15
Dried fruit, per pound, 25 to 30
Apricots (dried) per pound 35
Cigars, single 50
Cigars, wholesale, per 1,000, $95 to 100 00
Tobacco, chewing and smoking, per pound. . i 50
Tobacco, plug cut, per pound 2 00
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 2(57
Blankets, good, per pair, from $i6 to 30 oo
Hudson Bay blankets 30 00
Linen shirt 5 00
Underwear, per suit 10 00
Canvas overalls 2 50
Boots, from $10 to 12 00
Stogie shoes, from $5 to 7 50
Clothes, suit ready made, from $30 to 50 00
Fur overcoats, from $25 to 100 00
Dogs for sleds, from $100 to 300 00
Home-made bread, per loaf 50
Lumber, per 1,000 feet, from $100 to 200 00
Wages, per day, $5 to 6 00
Meals in restaurant, each i 50
A dressmaker, who was in Circle City when the "strike"
on the Klondike was made, went to Dawson City, and in
the first three days cleared $90 wath her needle. Mrs.
Adams, the dressmaker, said she was the first woman in
the diggings that could fit a dress, and while there were
no "bones" or "waist binding or canvas" or other articles
about which women know everything and which go into
a dress, Mrs. Adams said prices are kept up, ranging
about as follows: Five to ten dollars for a plain Mother
Hubbard, $6 to $12 for an empress, $8 for a plain wool
skirt, $10 to an "ounce" for a waist. These prices were
simply for making the goods up, and Mrs. Adams said
she and her partner had more work than they could do.
Dawson City is located on the bank of the Klondike
where the latter stream empties into the Yukon river. The
town site of 160 acres is owned by Joe Ladue, and Daw-
son City is laid out in a square, and divided into city lots
after the most improved manner of the real estate dealer
who plats new subdivisions. The population is unknown.
Good guessers put the number of inhabitants of this
mushroom town anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000. Some-
time next spring it will be known just what the winter
268 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
population of Dawson City has been during the winter.
The city was born in August, 1896, a few days after the
Klondike strike was made. Many people are under the
impression that Dawson City is in the very center of the
rich placer deposits of the Klondike district, when as a
matter of fact, the gold bearing creeks are from 12 to
25 miles from Dawson City.
Dawson City is a Canadian town, although its founder
and most of its inhabitants are qualified voters in the
United States when they are at home. Dawson City is not
only a mushroom town, but, to use another simile bor-
rowed from the vegetable kingdom, it is a "sucker" town.
When it sprung up Circle City, Forty Mile, Fort Cudahy,
and other mining towns north of it were depopulated so
rapidly that no one save the agents of the transportation
and trading companies and the Hudson's Bay company
were left.
Every man, woman, child and dog scurried to Dawson
City as fast as possible. Before the establishment of Daw-
son City there were 1,500 people in Circle City. A recent
letter from Circle City relates the sad fact that there are
three men, two women, one child and four yellow curs
left. From all reports Dawson City is an orderly place,
all things considered. The Northwest territory mounted
police and the Canadian land officials thus far have suc-
ceeded in maintaining law and order to a degree that can
scarcely be appreciated by one who is familiar with the
so-called "typical" mining towns.
The people as a rule are law-abiding and attend to their
own business. In fact all are too busy looking after wealth
to resort to any lawlessness. Joe Ladue, the father of
Dawson City, is authority for the statement that stealing
is practically unknown in that town. Gold dust, grains
and nuggets are kept in tin cans, iron kettles, worn out
PROSPECTORS STRIKING A NEW CREEK.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 271
rubber boots, oil cans, and left in tents and cabins without
watch or guard being placed over them. This was the
Dawson City up to the time the flood of gold-seekers
overwhelmed it this year. The Canadian authorities be-
lieve that they will be able to smash all traditions, so far
as mining towns are concerned, by making and keeping
Dawson City a highly moral frontier town.
Joseph Ladue, the owner of Dawson City, is one of the
fortunate men who made a large strike. He says he does
not know how much he is worth, but those who are as-
sociated with him place his figures up among the millions.
He is a resident, when at home, of Schuyler Halls, Clin-
ton county. New York. He has great hopes for the
future of the city he owns. In speaking of his possessions
Ladue said that the summer for Dawson City opens about
May 15 and by June i, no snow is seen anywhere.
Grain is planted or sown about May 15, and he has
raised barley and oats there for two years. Potatoes do
not mature in Dawson. On the highlands the frost strikes
everything each year. So the farming is all done on the
islands. McOuestion, the Hudson's Bay trader at Forty
Mile, has raised potatoes, barley, oats, turnips, lettuce,
radishes and cabbage. He sells his produce to the miners
and gets good prices for it. Turnips, for instance, bring
ten cents a pound. At Ft. Selkirk, 178 miles south of
Dawson, is another garden, owned and cultivated by
Harper, sometimes called the "grand old man of the Yu-
kon."
The summer lasts from the middle of May to Septem-
ber I. The longest day in Dawson City is June 22; on
that day the Klondikers have the sun for twenty hours,
"clear, warm sun," as Joe Ladue expressed it. Winter
sets in September i, and the cold comes on gradually.
September and October weather is fine, October being
U
272 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
about as November is in the United States. After that
everything is closed up, including the Yukon river, which
freezes over between November i and lo, and it is not
navigable after that time until the next spring. The ice
in the river freezes five and a half feet thick.
They have bath tubs in Dawson City, ''real zinc bath-
tubs," according to Joe Ladue, and it costs a Klondiker
$1 a bath in a barber shop. But the prospector, who has
a thrifty nature and is saving his cash, seldom patronizes
these dollar a bath tubs. He takes a Russian bath for
nothing. The Russian bath houses are made out of logs,
an arch of stones is made on the floor of the house and a
fire built under until the stones are red hot. The door is
closed tight, and a barrel of water is thrown over the
stones until the hot steam fills the room, and the Klon-
diker walks around with every pore wide open, dripping
with perspiration. As Joe Ladue puts it, "it is a good
sweat bath and is all right too for cleaning."
Several preachers are on their way to the Klondike,
but the church of England has one of its clergymen on
the ground. Bishop Bompas is at the head of the dio-
cese which includes the Klondike district, and an episco-
pal clergyman officiates in Dawson City. When Ladue
left Dawson City he was told that Bishop Bompas in-
tended to move from Forty Mile to the metropolis of the
Klondike.
Men who have returned from Dawson City tell great
tales of the magnificence of the bars over which the sev-
eral kinds of drinks in vogue in Dawson are servecl. One
of the bars cost $750 in San Francisco before it was
loaded on the ship, and another one is said to be equally
as expensive. The dance hall is a frame building covered
with white drilling. It is about 80 feet long and 40 feet
wide. The orchestra consists of a horn, a violin, and a
Book for gold-sEekers. 273
piano, and everything is 50 cents a drink. There were
10 saloons and only 3 restaurants in Dawson City when
Ladue left. One of the restaurants was an attachment to
a barber shop.
A table d'hote dinner cost $1.50 and consists of bacon,
beans, bread, cofifee, a piece of cheese and dried fruit.
And the restaurant keepers sell everything that can be
made into a warm meal for the miners who have been liv-
ing on hardtack and salt pork for several months. The
laundries charge 25 cents a piece for everything that goes
into the washtub, from towels to blue shirts. The stew-
ardess on the steamer Willipaw forsook the raging Yu-
kon and took to washing in Dawson City, and she did first
rate. She also started a bake-shop, and one small loaf of
her home made bread sold for 50 cents.
Gambling is carried on at Dawson City to suit all con-
ditions of persons; no stake less than a dollar is allowed
and jackpots frequently run up to enough "ounces" of
gold dust to represent several thousands of dollars. It is
claimed that there has not been even a first-class fist fight
over a gambling game in Dawson City since Joe Ladue
laid out the town site. From all accounts gambling is
all "straight" in Dawson City, for cheating is regarded as
akin to stealing, and stealing is put down as a worse
crime than murder in that section of the globe.
The Canadian authorities have established a postofifice
at Dawson City. This makes three Canadian postofifices
in that portion of the Northwest territory. The other
two offices are at Forty Alile and Fort Cudahy, The mail
is carried by the mounted police from Dyea.
Robert Krook, a Swedish Klondiker, tells stories some-
what different from the average of those that have come
from the lips of returned miners. He said :
"Until this spring the men never put locks on the doors
274 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
of their cabins, and nothing was stolen. You might go
into any cabin and see a glass or a tin or two on the shelf
full of gold and no one would think of touching it. Any-
one could steal if he wanted to do so, but there were
reasons why they did not. It was only after the mounted
police arrived that locks and bolts became a necessity. Be-
fore that there were what we called 'miners' laws.' Forty
or fifty of the miners would call a meeting, select a chair-
man, and then if a man could make his own 'talk' he did
so or he would get some one to make it for him. When
both sides of the case had been heard the chairman would
call for a vote. The decision was final. If a man gave
trouble he had to go. Now they do not have miners'
laws any more. We had no trouble during three years,
because all questions were settled at these meetings of
miners. All disputes about claims were argued and ad-
judicated in the same way."
Some amusing details were given of the way in which
the men spend the long nights in the winter. As each
claim extends only 500 feet up and down the stream, the
cabins are close together and tlie men visit one another.
In the Klondike, or for that matter at Forty Mile creek
or any of these faraway mining camps, the men are expert
checker players, because that is the principal amusement,
with whist as the favorite card game.
"No paper is too old," said Mr. Krook, "to read. We
read all the advertisements and all the can labels. There
was a supply of canned lobsters at the camp and some
man used to put up with the cans wrappings of sheets
from the bible. We used to commit the chapters to mem-
ory and see who could repeat them first without a mis-
take.
"The food is neither extra choice nor plentiful. But it
is expensive. Bacon, ham and beans are the general rule
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 275
— no French wines or champagnes. The supplies are
short at best and a man must often take bacon that he
would not throw to a dog or go without. There is usually
more whisky and hardware on hand than anything else.
A man only needs a certain amount of hardware, and the
less whisky he can get on with the better he is ofif.
"Sometimes a man has to watch his supplies pretty
close, and they usually build a 'cache' — that is, a little
platform set high up on light poles. He can then haul
up his bacon and 'grub' and cover it with a tarpaulin.
The risk of leaving the 'grub' in the cabin is that the bears
get at it. They will even tear the roof off to get in, and
there are plenty of the animals. They won't climb the thin
posts, particularly when the bark has been peeled ofif.
"In regard to clothing, a man does not need much in
summer, and in winter he studies comfort, not looks. In
winter we wear moccasins and in summer while sluicing
gum boots. I have not had leather on my feet since I
left. Overalls cost $2.50 in Klondike, and everything else
in proportion, but it is a great country to make money in."
W. D. Johns, the special correspondent of the CHICA-
GO RECORD, who has been in the Yukon country for
two years, sent a letter to the RECORD describing gold
digging in winter in the Birch creek district. This letter
was written December 21, 1896, and was published March
2, 1897, and was the first announcement, to be published
in any newspaper, of the Klondike find. Mr. Johns' letter
reads as follows :
"Life, climate and work in interior Alaska, close to the
arctic circle, in winter is vastly different from that which
the popular belief supposes it to be. While not as desira-
ble a place of winter residence as countries farther south,
it is one in which men travel, work and live, taking suita-
ble precautions, without serious trouble or danger unless
276 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
they meet with accidents or get caught out when the tem-
perature takes a sudden drop down to 70 or 80 degrees
below zero. In that case if not well prepared there is
danger, of course. But the principal danger is in getting
the feet wet where the water has overflowed the river or
creek ice and of freezing before a fire can be built and the
feet dried. More men are fatally frozen in this way than
any other. The river froze up later this fall, November 5,
and since then the weather has been steadily cold, aver-
aging 20 degrees below zero and running down at times
to 40 and 50 degrees below, which is the lowest point yet
touched, it having been a warm winter so far.
"Dog teams and horses are freighting out to the mines
60 miles back of the river. Miners are going and coming
to and from the diggings, where they are now engaged in
drifting, and many are going to the new place of excite-
ment at Klondike, in the Northwest territory, 260 miles
above Circle City, on the Yukon. Among them are some
women. Yet one hears less complaint about the weather
than in a cold winter in Chicago. When the thermome-
ter drops 50 degrees below zero or lower most men re-
main in their huts if on the trail or in their cabins if cut-
ting wood or at other work, but many travel when it is 60
degrees below zero and work in the shafts sinking and
drifting out the pay dirt — not altogether pleasant for the
man who is working the windlass above. At times too,
it blows almost a gale when the thermometer is low and
then it is almost unendurable.
"In the Birch creek diggings water seriously interferes
with the winter digging in many places and it is not until
late in the winter that some of them can be worked on
this account. The earth down here is not eternally frozen
to a great depth, as has been supposed. On the river
above in the Northwest territory, this supposition is more
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 277
generally true and they are troubled much less with
water than here, but even there it causes trouble. Another
generally received fallacy is that it 'never rains' here. On
the upper river the climate is dry, with but little rain, but
when one gets as far down as Forty Mile one has almost
as much rain as in North Dakota, and it increases down
the river. So that here there is a good deal of rain. Up
in the mountains this rain turns to snow, which is not in-
frequent at the diggings in midsummer. This accounts
for the millions of mosquitoes, which are actually danger-
ous to life here if a man's face and body are not protected.
On the upper Yukon they are not one-tenth as bad as
down here, owing to the drier climate. Tetany a 'chechaco'
(tenderfoot) on his way to the mines, with a pack on his
back, has thrown down everything and struck back for
town and gone on down the river without delay, cursing
the country and its mosquitoes. Not one-third of those
coming in stay over winter.
"To those who stay and work the country offers great
rewards in comparison with what the average man can
make below, and the chance of a fortune. In this district
the mines offer the only source now, for Circle City is
fully built, and the men who worked at it last summer
will have to do something else, for there will be no build-
ing to speak of. At the present time it is very quiet.
Many men went out, and almost all the rest have gone
to the different creeks to sink prospect holes or to drift
out pay dirt, which in some creeks does not have to be
burned, as there is no frost after they get down to the
pay. Last summer $500,000 was taken out of Birch creek
district, and this winter they expect to take out $200,000,
allowing $500 to the man, a very low estimate. As the
country has not yet been thoroughly prospected this
amount will probably be increased next year and for some
278 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
years to come. Parties are now out and more are going
to prospect creeks over the range, and before spring new
discoveries will undoubtedly be made.
"The new Klondike strike in the Northwest territory
(Canada) is an example of how little is known of this
region. Only 50 miles up the Yukon from the old Forty
Mile post, where the Canadian government now has a po-
lice force, it has been casually gone over several times by
prospectors who kept to the main creek or river. Last
summer a squaw man was induced to go up a side creek
of the Klondike by his Indian brother-in-law, and they
found the gold on what is now asserted to be the richest
creek in the gold region, and one of the richest ever struck
anywhere. I myself have panned and seen panned some
wonderfully rich prospects on the surface, as high as $3 to
the pan. If the reports now coming down from Klon-
dike are true they have it richer still on the bed rock.
"It is a great district, with many rich gulches, and will
support an immense mining population when opened up
in a year from now, though the news will bring in a host
of men who will be unable to find work and who, unless
they have money, will have to go out, as the companies
have absolutely shut down on the credit they used to give.
It is a matter of regret with Americans that these diggings
are under the paw of the British lion. Many believe, in-
deed, that the majority of the rich strikes of the future
w^ill be on Canadian soil, near the main chain of the
Rockies, which sends only spurs westward into Alaska.
The Klondike diggings are on the same spur of the
Rockies as those of Birch creek, 260 miles down the river,
but they are only about 60 miles from the main range. A
number of minor creeks were struck on the same range
between Circle City and the Canadian line last summer.
"Every one coming in this spring ought to bring a
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. ^81
year's supplies, as so great a rush to the new strike is an-
ticipated that the companies will not be able to supply
the demand with their present steamer capacity. In the
past they have just managed to supply the demand, fall-
ing short of many articles, and each fall sees a repetition
of the scarcity. Just keeping up with the demand, they
cannot supply a rush such as the Klondike strike will un-
doubtedly bring in, so that hardships must result unless
newcomers bring a year's supply down the river.
"Independent steamers are needed that will carry
freight. As it is now, if one can get freight carried at all
up the river it costs $280 a ton, all water transportation
from Seattle and up one of the finest navigable rivers in
the world, so pronounced by competent Mississippi river
steamboat captains, who are in here. The North American
Transportation company, of which P. B. Weare and Jack
Cudahy are the principal stockholders, put a new steam-
er on the Yukon the last summer, as did the Alaska Com-
mercial company, of San Francisco, but this fall there was
the usual shortage of supplies. The Weare company,
which did all in its power to get up provisions, is said to
intend putting on another steamer next summer. But
what is needed is a steamer, or steamers, which will carry
freight for the many who now cannot get a pound earned
up the river at any price.
"The country is on the eve of a great development, and
prices are simply enormous. In a few years when prices
come down there are hundreds of claims paying $6, $7,
$8 or $9 a day that can be worked that now cannot be
touched because of the expense of food, tools and
clothes."
Joe Ladue says that Dawson City, Circle City and
Forty Mile are towns for "women-folk," because "any
woman who can live anywhere on top of the earth can live
282 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
up there and be happy." The women of the upper Yukon
seem to be of the same opinion, judging from the letters
they send "home." The following interesting letter was
received by John C. Hessian, a well-known attorney in
Duluth, ]Minn., from his sister, whose husband is a hard-
ware merchant at Fort Cudahy. She writes as follows :
"I was the ninth white woman in this country, and
three out of the nine arrived only a month ahead of me.
There are about two dozen now. I know eight of them,
and w^e get along nicely together. There are about two
thousand white men scattered through this part of the
country, and a carload of girls would go like hot cakes.
In coming into this place we came from Seattle out to
Cape Flattery, through the northern waters of the Pacific
Ocean, the Bering sea and up the Yukon river. We were
six weeks en route. I stood the trip well, and was the
only passenger able to eat three or more times a day.
At the mouth of the great river, the Yukon, we took the
river boat, which is very fine, with splendid accommoda-
tions. The scenery is beautiful all the 1600 miles to
this camp.
"The Yukon is about two thousand miles long, and has
a great many good-sized rivers flowing into it. It does
not freeze up before October 10, although we have some
very cold weather before that time, but it takes cold
weather to stop these swift steamers. When it does
freeze up, instead of freezing smooth the huge cakes of
ice seem to be standing on edge from 12 to 15 feet high
in places. I don't know how to describe it any better than
by likening it to an ice-house blown up with dynamite.
We are living on British soil, 30 miles from the Alaska
line, nine blocks or thereabouts from the north pole, and
1,600 miles from a railroad. Until the last few months
we have had no mail route, but persons coming in in the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 283
spring and summer usually brought in the letters that ac-
cumulated at Juneau. They brought in letters only.
"Mining is the only industry. Gold can be found in the
gravel on nearly any river, creek or gulch. Two obstacles
the miner has to contend with are the short seasons and
the frozen condition of the country. The earth, in sum-
mer, only thaws two or three feet, and that only in places
exposed to the sun. There is no coin or currency in the
country to speak of. All business is transacted with gold
dust. No laws are recognized here except those made by
the miners themselves. There is a good class of men here,
pretty well mixed; goodhearted, hard workers. The In-
dians are very numerous here and throughout the coun-
try. They are peaceable and self-supporting. They look
as much like the Chinese or Japs as they do like Indians.
They try to imitate the white man in dress. Freighting is
done entirely by dogs. These animals resemble the wolf
in appearance, and are sold at $75, $100 and $125 each.
The large game of the country is bear, wolves, moose and
caribou, a species of the reindeer. The last two are fine
eating.
"The mercury goes sometimes as low as 80 degrees be-
low zero. At such a time a basinful of hot water thrown
up in the air will come down in icicles. We are about 30
miles south of the arctic circle. During the short days it
begins to get dark at 3 p. m., daylight appearing about
9:30 a. m. During the very shortest days the sun drops
entirely out of sight, and is invisible for three weeks.
Dunng the long summer days we have continual day-
light. You can see to read or write at night as well as at
any time during the day. The sun rises and sets in the
west in July, and during the shortest days it rises and sets
in the east. The moon acts in the same manner. The
northern lights, during the winter months, are beautiful
284 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
to look at. They move so rapidly and form into such
beautiful shapes and colors that you could wish for noth-
ing else more interesting. It would be utterly useless
for me to attempt to explain these wonderful beauties of
nature. The seasons of the year are 9 months winter
and 3 late in the fall.
"Just hsten to the buzz of the mosquitoes! It is my
opinion there is only one flock, and that covers the entire
country, for there are mosquitoes In every place you can
go or think of. They are as thick as snowflakes in a
snowbank. They get into activity and stay right with
you. They do business day and night. A mosquito bar
is as essential in summer as an overcoat in winter.
When they quit, a small gnat shows up. The latter is
fully as bad and far more numerous.
"The river boats have scarcely four months in the year
in which to run. There are four boats running, and two
more are building. Each of the boats can bring 350
tons of freight, but the amount of provisions that is
needed for the different ports the full length of the river
is immense, and there is always a shortage in some things.
"On the Bering sea, from our steamer, about 15 miles
distant, we saw a mountain 1,500 feet high, of solid rock,
and on top of that a statue of rock, a perfect representa-
tion of a bishop in his robes, crosier in hand, as perfect
and real as anything you ever saw. The immense rock
stands all alone, not another thing to be seen but water.
On this river also there are two immense rocks standing
all alone, one on each side of the river. They are called
Adam and Eve. You would travel the w^orld over and
not be able to meet with prettier scenery than can be seen
along this river. While at Circle City we saw a rainbow
at a quarter to midnight.
"Fresh vegetables are hardly known here. The sea-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 285
son is too short to give them time to develop. Wild
onions and rhubarb can be found everywhere. They are
terribly strong, but we relish them as you would straw-
berries and ice cream. The blueberry, cranberry, sal-
monberry, wild raspberry and red currants grow in abun-
dance on the islands and on the sides of the mountains.
"Just now, the old mail arrived. It was lost upon the
summit nearly a year ago. I got a letter from ]\Iaggie
in it. It is nothing to get mail several months old here.
We have no more idea of what is going on in the world
than a Yukon Indian. The river boats failed to make
connection with the ocean steamers all summer. Finally,
the Canadian surveyors here had set the time to go out
from here and would take mail. They were going over-
land, leaving here on the morning of Sept. 20, but on
that very morning it began to lain, snow and blow, and
continued so until the 26th, when the slush ice began to
run in the Yukon and winter set right in. No one has
gone out since, but the surveyors will start tomorrow.
The steamboats were all frozen in along the river, loaded
for this port. Provisions are very scarce. Many of the
miners have to go down the river for the winter, while
many others will winter on a hundred pounds of flour
and caribou. We have plenty of everything, in fact, all
the families have. The only sad part of it for us is that
all of our goods are on the steamer Bella, two hundred
miles from here, and we will not see them until next sum-
mer. This was a backward summer for the steamers.
The wind blew so hard around St. Michael they could
scarcely unload the ocean vessels, as they have to unload
about one mile from the shore on account of low water.
"Sixty head of cattle were driven in from Juneau and
got here last week. The first beef ever in the country.
We got two porterhouse steaks for Sunday dinner. They
286 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
cost $10 — $1 per pound — bone, trimmings, fat, horns, and
tail, all the same price. We got, by chance, 250 pounds
of native potatoes — we are the only ones with that many.
The ship's potatoes are on the steamers with the rest of
the eatables. We had to kill our chickens, as the chicken
feed did not get here. I have them frozen, and will have
chicken for Christmas and New Year's.
"There was a new mining district discovered, 50 miles
up the Yukon from here, two months ago. It is turning
out to be a great thing. There are over six hundred
claims already staked, and a new town started called
Klondike. Pat went up with the first excitement and
got three town lots. One of them he has already been
ofifered $1,500 for, but will not sell. He also staked two
claims and bought another this week for $1,500. These
are all placer mines. I also have a claim. Pat and I
have men prospecting on our claims. We may never
get a cent out of them, and we may get thousands. We
are running that risk.
"I have been writing this by lamp light, but just now,
at 10 o'clock a. m., the sun is just coming over the moun-
tain tops, with two sun dogs accompanying it. It is 40
below, with a strong wind blowing.
"We got your papers and clippings and passed them
around. You don't know what a treat it is to see print
in here. Pat would give his head to know something
about the election. He sincerely hopes Bryan is presi-
dent, and tries to console himself by thinking he actually
must be the man.
"I am knitting socks and stockings. I only wear two
pairs at a time, with a pair of Dutch socks and a pair
of fur boots."
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 287
CHAPTER XVII.
OGILVIE'S REPORT ON THE YUKON
DISTRICT.
YUKON DISTRICT in which the
Klondike placer mines are located
was traversed by traders of the Hud-
son Bay company as far back as
1840. William Ogilvie the land sur-
veyor of the Dominion of Canada,
commissioned by the Department of
^ the Interior of the Dominion gov-
ernment to survey that district, returned from there in
the early summer of 1897. In his report he
designates the Yukon district as that part of the
Northwest territory lying west of the water-shed
of the Mackenzie river, most of it being drained by the
Yukon river and its tributaries. It covers a distance of
about 650 miles along the river from the Coast range of
mountains.
In 1847 Fort Yukon was established at the mouth of
the Porcupine river by A. H. Murray, a member of the
Hudson Bay company. Seven years prior Robert Camp-
bell explored the upper Liard river and the Pelly river
down to the confluence of the Lewes river.
In 1848 Campbell established Fort Selkirk at the con-
fluence of the Pelly and Lewes rivers; it was plundered
and destroyed in 1852 by the Coast Indians and only the
ruins now exist of what was at one time the most import-
ant post of the Hudson Bay company to the west of the
Rocky mountains in the far north. In 1869 the United
288 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
States government expelled the Hudson Bay company's
offices at Fort Yukon, as it was found that the post was
not located in British territory. The officer in charge
ascended the Porcupine river to a point which was sup-
posed to be within British jurisdiction, where he estab-
lished Rampart House; but in 1890 J. H. Turner of the
United States coast survey found that post was twenty
miles within the lines of the United States. Consequently
in 1 89 1 the post was moved twenty miles further up the
river to be within British territor}^ The next people to
enter the country for trading purposes were Harper and
McQuestion. They have been trading in the country
since 1873; Mr. Harper is now located as a trader at
Fort Selkirk, and Mr. McQuestion is in the employ of
the Alaska Commercial company at Circle City, which is
the distributing point for the vast regions surrounding
Birch creek, Alaska. In 1882 a number of miners en-
tered the Yukon country. The next year Lieutenant
Schwatka of the United States navy ascended the Lewes
and Yukon rivers to the ocean.
In 1887 Thomas White, the minister of the Interior of
Canada, authorized the organization of an expedition hav-
ing as its object the exploration of that region of the
Northwest territories of Canada that are drained by the
Yukon river. The work was intrusted to Dr. George M.
Dawson, now the director of the geological survey of the
Dominion government, and William Ogilvie, the well-
known explorer and surveyor. Dr. Dawson devoted the
whole of that season, and Mr. Ogilvie a period covering
nearly two years to obtaining geological, topographical
and general information, chiefly respecting the tract of
country lying adjacent to the 141st meridian of longitude,
which, by the treaty of St. Petersburg, was designated as
the boundary line from the neighborhood of Mt St. Elias
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 2yi
to the Arctic ocean, between Alaska and the Northwest
territories of Canada.
The explorers found that in proximity to the boundary
line there existed extensive and valuable placer gold
mines, where even then as many as three hundred miners
were at work. Mr. Ogilvie determined by a series of
lunar observations, the point at which the Yukon river
is intersected by the 141st meridian, and marked the same
on the ground. He also determined and marked the
point at which the western branch of the Yukon, known
as Forty Mile creek, is crossed by the same meridian line,
and located that point at a distance of about twenty-three
miles from the mouth of the creek. At the junction of
the Yukon and Forty Mile creek Fort Cudahy is located,
and according to this survey is well within Canadian ter-
ritory. Mr. Ogilvie reported to the Canadian government
that the greater proportion of the mines then being
worked was on the Canadian side of the international
boundary line. Extracts from Mr. Ogilvie's report follow:
"The Alaska Commercial company, for many years
subsequent to the retirement of the Hudson Bay com-
pany, had a practical monopoly of the trade of the Yukon.
With the discovery of gold came the organization of a
competing company known as the North American
Transportation and Trading company, having its head-
quarters in Chicago and its chief trading and distributing
post at Fort Cudahy. Both of these companies have
steamers plying between San Francisco, Seattle and St.
Michael.
"At the last named place the passengers and freight
are transferred to stern-wheel river boats, and Fort Cud-
ahy is reached after ascending the swift current of the
Yukon for sixteen hundred miles. This is the easiest,
15
^92 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
but the longest route, and the diggings are not reached
until a considerable portion of the short summer season
is passed. Mr. Ogilvie, in his report, says as a rule it is
not safe to enter Norton sound (in which the island of
St. Michael is located) on account of ice before the first
of July.
"St. Michael is eighty miles from the northly mouth
of the Yukon ; the passage up the river takes from eigh-
teen to twenty days, and the round trip about a month.
The first boat does not arrive at Fort Cudahy and Daw-
son City until late in July, and the river closes in Sep-
tember, so that the arrival of the last boat is somewhat
uncertain; last year they are said to have been frozen in
at Circle City. Two round trips in a season are all that
can be relied upon.
"Many persons prefer going by Lynn canal, the Taiya
(Dyea) pass, and down the Yukon. The distance from
the sea to Cudahy is only 630 miles, and to Dawson City
a little over 575 miles, and by starting in April or May
the diggings are reached by the beginning of June. The
upper part of the river opens several weeks before the
lower part is free from ice. After crossing the pass the
trip to Cudahy can be accomplished in eight days. An-
other route is now being explored between Telegraph
creek and Teslin lake, and will soon be opened.
"Telegraph creek is the head of steamer navigation on
the Stikine river, and is about 150 miles from Teslin lake.
The Yukon is navigable for steamers from its mouth to
Teslin lake, a distance of 2,300 miles. A road is being
located by the Dominion government, and a grant of
$2,000 has been made by the province of British Colum-
bia for opening it.
"J. Dalton, a trader, has used a route overland from
Chilkat inlet to Fort Selkirk, going up the Chilkat and
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 293
Klaheela rivers. He crosses the divide to the Tahkeena
river, and continues northward over a fairly open country
practicable for horses. The distance from the sea to Fort
Selkirk is 350 miles. It is proposed to establish a winter
road somewhere across the country traveled by Dalton.
The Yukon cannot be followed, the ice being too much
broken, so that any winter road will have to be overland.
A thorough exploration is now being made of all the
passes at the head of Lynn canal and of the upper waters
of the Yukon. In a few months it is expected that the
best routes for reaching the district from the Lynn canal
will be definitely known."
Under date of Fort Cudahy, September, 1896, Mr.
Ogilvie writes of the discovery of gold on Bonanza creek,
a branch of the Klondike. He gives as the correct name
of the now famous stream "Thron-Diuck," and says it is
marked on the map as "Deer river," and joins the Yukon
a few miles above the site of Fort Reliance. In this letter
Mr. Ogilvie says: "Between Thron-Diuck and Stewart
river a large creek, called Indian creek, flows into the
Yukon, and rich prospects have been found on it, and
no doubt it is in the gold-bearing country between Thron-
Diuck and Stewart rivers, which is considered by all old
miners the best and most extensive gold country yet
found."
Referring to the Klondike region, Mr. Ogilvie writes :
"I think I can expend more in the interest of the coun-
try by remaining here and making a survey of the 'Klon-
dak' of the miners — a mispronunciation of the Indian
word or words 'Thron-dak,' or 'Diuck,' which means
'plenty of fish,' from the fact that it is a famous salmon
stream. It is marked 'Tondak' on our map. It joins the
Yukon from the east a few miles above Fort Reliance,
about forty miles from here (Fort Cudahy). As I have
294 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
already intimated, rich placer mines of gold were dis-
covered on the branches of this stream. The discovery,
I believe, was due to the reports of Indians.
"A white man named George W. Carmack, who worked
with me in 1887, was the first to take advantage of the
rumors and locate a mine on the first branch, which was
named by the miners Bonanza creek. Carmack located
late in August (1896), but had to cut some logs for the
mill here to get a few pounds of provisions to enable him
to work on his claim. The fishing at Thron-Diuck hav-
ing totally failed him, he returned with, in a few weeks,
provisions for himself, his wife and brother-in-law (In-
dians), and another Indian in the last days of August, and
immediately set about working his claim.
"The three men, working very irregularly, washed out
$1,200 in eight days. On the same creek two men rocked
out about $75 in four hours, and it is asserted that two
men in the same creek took out $4,000 in two days with
only two lengths of sluice boxes. This last is doubted,
but Mr. Leduc assures me he weighed that much gold
for them, but it is not positive where they got it.
"A branch of Bonanza, named El Dorado, has pros-
pected magnificently, and another branch named Tilly
has prospected well. In all there are some four or five
branches of Bonanza which have given good prospect.
A few miles farther up Bear creek enters Thron-Diuck,
and it has been prospected and located on. Compared
with Bonanza it is small, and will not afford more than
twenty or thirty claims, it is said. About twelve miles
above the mouth, Gold-Bottom creek joins Thron-Diuck,
and on it and a branch named Hunker creek, after the
discoverer, very rich ground has been found. On Gold-
Bottom creek and branches there will probably be 200
or 300 claims. The Indians have reported another creek
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 295
much further up, which they call 'Too-Much-Gold-Creek,'
on which the gold is so plentiful that, the miners say in
joke, 'You have to mix gravel with it to sluice it.'
"From all this we may, I think, infer that we have here
a district which will give i,ooo claims of five hundred feet
in length each, and this is not all, for a large creek named
Indian creek joins the Yukon about midway between
Thron-Diuck and Stewart rivers, and all along this creek
good pay has been found. Indian creek is quite a large
stream, and it is probable it will yield 500 or 600 claims.
Farther south yet lies the head of several branches of
Stewart river, on which some prospecting has been done
this summer and good indications found.
"Now gold has been found in several streams joining
Felly river, and also all along the Hootalinqua. In the line
of these finds farther south is the Cassiar gold fields in
British Columbia; so the presumption is that we have in
our territory, along the easterly water-shed of the Yukon,
a gold-bearing belt of indefinite width and upwards of
300 miles long, exclusive of the British Columbia part of
it. On the westerly side of the Yukon prospecting has
been done on a creek a short distance above Selkirk, with
a fair amount of success, and on a large creek some 30
or 40 miles below Selkirk fair prospects have been found."
INIr. Ogilvie bears testimony to the richness of the
Klondike placer mines, under date of Dec. 9, 1896, as
follows: "Since my last the prospects of Bonanza creek
and tributaries are increasing in richness and extent until
now it is certain that millions wall be taken out of the
district within the next few years. One man told me yes-
terday that he washed out a single pan of dirt on one of
the claims on Bonanza and found $14-25 in it. Of course
that may be an exceptionally rich pan, but $5 to $7 per
pan is the average on that claim, it is reported, with five
296 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
feet of pay dirt and the width yet undetermined, but
it was known to be thirty feet even at that; figure the
resuk at nine to ten pans to the cubic foot, and five
hundred feet long; nearly v$4,ooo,ooo at $5 per pan —
one-fourth of this would be enormous.
"Another claim has been prospected to such an extent
that it is known there is about five feet pay dirt averaging
$2 per pan and width not less than thirty feet. Enough
prospecting has been done to show that there are at
least fifteen miles of this extraordinary richness ; and the
indications are that we will have three or four times that
extent, if not all equal to the above, at least very rich.
"Miller and Glacier creeks on the head of Sixty Mile
river, were thought to be very rich, but they are poor,
both in quality and quantity, compared with the Thron-
Diuck. Chicken creek, at the head of Forty Mile in
Alaska, discovered a year ago, and rated very high, is
to-day practically abandoned. Some quartz prospecting
has been done in Thron-Diuck region, and it is probable
that some good veins will be found there. Coal is found
on the upper part of Thron-Diuck, so that the facilities
for working it, if found, are good and convenient. A
quartz lode, showing free gold in paying quantities, has
been located on one of the creeks, but I cannot yet send
particulars. I am confident from the nature of the gold
found in the creeks that many more of them — and rich,
too — will be found.
^ ^ JjS ^ 5J? ^ ^
"I have just heard from a reliable source that the quartz
mentioned above is rich, as tested, over $100 to the ton.
The lode appears to run from three to eight feet in thick-
ness, and is about nineteen miles from the Yukon river.
Placer prospects continue more and more encouraging
and extraordinary. It is beyond doubt that three pa-ns
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 297
on different claims on El Dorado turned out $204, $212
and $216; but it must be borne in mind that there were
only three such pans, though there are many running
from $10 to $50 a pan.
298
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER XVIII.
GOLD HISTORY OF ALASKA.
OSEPH JUNEAU has gone down in the
histon' of Alaska as the first man to
demonstrate the existence of gold in any
considerable quantity in the vicinity of
the town which bears his name. It was
in 1880 that gold was discovered in the
vicinity of Juneau, but the first discovery
of gold in Southeast Alaska was made
near Sitka in 1873. The subsequent ex-
citement brought miners from the Cassiar regions in
British Columbia, and in the Northwest territory to the
southeastern coast of Alaska, and prospecting was act-
ively prosecuted. The gold find of 1880 transformed
the little Indian settlement at the head of Gastineau
channel, where before a white man had rarely been seen,
into a typical American mining camp. Prospectors went
back into the interior singly and in parties of three or
more and located many claims.
Richard Harris, a partner of Juneau, at first was cred-
ited with the honor of discovering gold in that district,
so the first mining town was named Harrisburg; it after-
ward was named Rockwell in honor of one of the officers
of the United States steamer Jamestown, but finally the
town was given the name which it now bears — Juneau.
Back of Juneau extends the deep ravines and gorges
through which Gold creek pours its waters, and many
men found diggings in them which paid them well.
When the gold excitement at Juneau was at its height
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 301
it was reported that gold had been found on top of a
mountain which is two miles across the bay. A miner
who went by the name of "French Pete" staked off a
claim on top of this mountain. John Treadwell, after
investigating this location, purchased French Pete's
claim for $400. He first built a 5-stamp mill, and the
development was so promising that he was able to in-
terest capital sufficient to build a 120-stamp mill. Seven
years after the first discovery this was enlarged to 240-
stamp, making the Treadwell property the largest mill in
the world. Since then this immense mill has been pound-
ing out gold almost night and day without cessation.
The ore is known as very low grade, yielding only about
$1.85 in bullion to the ton of ore, but since the 240-
stamps were put in, the Treadwell mine has been turning
out from $70,000 to $80,000 a month.
Free gold has been found on Prince of Wales island
and north on Annette island, and many claims have been
located, the assays of which indicate large and rich de-
posits of the precious metal. At Sum Dum the Bald
Eagle mining claim is located, and a lo-stamp mill is at
work there. The ore is valued at upward of $100 a ton.
Ten miles from Juneau on Sheep creek is the Silver
Queen mine, with a lo-stamp mill. Within a radius of
four miles of Juneau there are nine mills in operation,
including the great Treadwell mine.
The four miles of country drained by Gold creek seems
to be covered by rich ledges of gold quartz; a number
of stamp mills are working in this district about eight
months out of the year. In what is known as the "basin"
a large sum of money has been spent in getting ready
to develop the placer mines by the process of hydraulic
mining. Over the bay which adjoins the Treadwell
mine is the Mexico mine, which has a 120-stamp mill.
A'
302 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Sixty miles from Juneau toward Lynn canal is the Ber-
ner's Bay mining property, and on the Admiralty island
in Funta bay is a group of rich ledges.
Rich indications of silver have been found at Glacier
bay, and on Willoughby island are rich galena deposits.
For several years prospecting has been carried on at
Unga, and a large mill has been erected by the Alaska
Commercial company at that point.
The gold deposits in southeastern Alaska require ex-
pensive machiner}^ to work them, for the ore is low grade.
In this sense this is not a "poor man's country." The
report of the governor of Alaska for the year ending Oc-
tober I, 1896, shows that $2,300,000 in gold bullion was
taken from the gold mines within the territory of Alaska
during the year ending October i, 1896. The greater
part of this amount was the product of low grade ores,
much of which yielded less than $4.00 per ton. The
average cost of mining and milling the quartz rock at
the Alaska-Treadwell gold mining company's mines on
Douglas island in 1896 was $1.25 a ton.
In 1 88 1 gold was first discovered in paying quantities
in the Yukon basin. A party of four miners after crossing
the range descended the Lewes river as far as the Big
Salmon, which they explored, prospecting all the way,
for a distance of 200 miles. They found gold on all the
bars of the Big Salmon. The next three or four years
the Pelly and Hootalinqua rivers were prospected, and
in 1886 the gold finds at Cassiar bar on the Stewart river
w^ere made.
Geographers divide the Yukon section into three prin-
cipal divisions. The upper division lies entirely within
British territory and embraces the White, Stewart,
Pelly, Lewes and Hootalinqua rivers, which, with their
several branches and tributaries, form the head waters
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 303
of the Yukon; the middle division includes the Yukon
between Fort Reliance and the mouth of the Tanana
river; the lower division the Yukon from the Tanana to
Norton sound and Bering sea.
Before the Klondike discovery the most important
placer mines were located in the middle division of the
Yukon district; on Forty Mile, Sixty Mile, JXIiller, Gla-
cier and Birch creek and Koyukuk river. The Forty
Mile and Sixty Mile creeks have their source in the
Ratzel mountain, flowing into the Yukon from the west.
The streams which flow into the Tanana, which start
from the other side of the Ratzel mountains, have not
been thoroughly explored, but gold in paying quantities
has been found along the banks of the Tanana, and some
of the bars have been worked with profit. One of the
richest of the gold-bearing creeks so far discovered in
this middle division is Miller creek, a tributary of Sixty
Mile creek. Glacier creek, another branch of Sixty Mile
creek, is also rich in gold. This middle division is the
"poor man's" mining territory, for the mines are placer
mines.
Rich gold discoveries have been reported from Indian
creek, which flows into the Yukon 30 miles below Sixty
Mile creek. Forty Mile creek was not discovered until
1887. It enters the Yukon from the west, drains the
country lying between the Yukon and Tanana river, is
about 200 miles long, and its tributaries are numerous.
The mouth of this creek is in Canadian territory.
On Forty Mile nearly all the available rich ground
has been worked out, but on the banks of the stream
are many high bars, which are known to be rich, but
which have not been worked because of the difHculty in
getting water through them. The find of gold on Forty
304 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Mile caused a great sensation, and tHe next gold craze
was caused by strikes on Birch creek.
One of the main tributaries to Birch creek is Crooked
creek, and from Circle City, which is eight miles across
the portage from Birch creek to the Yukon, a trail leads
over the hills to the mines on Independence and Masto-
don creeks. Gold was discovered on the Molymute, a
branch of Birch creek, in 1893. In this same year rich
gold discoveries were made on the Koyukuk river, and
a number of creeks, such as North Fork, Wild creek,
South Fork and Fish creek, have been prospected with
good success, although no extensive deposits have been
found. Below the Koyukuk river the only streams of
any size that empty into the Yukon are the Innoko and
the Anvik, but little prospecting has been done, however,
below Koyukuk river. Almost all of these placer mines
have been practically abandoned since the remarkably
rich finds of gold in the Klondike district in August,
1896.
An old prospector who has been in the Alaska Yukon
district for a number of years said that there is enough
undeveloped gold-bearing country in that district to take
care of 100,000 miners, not one of whom would be within
neighborhood distance of another, and it was all "tender-
foot" land.
History repeats itself in the Klondike discovery and
the excitement caused by it. It is about forty years since
any excitement equal to that caused by the Klondike
find has swept over the country. The older residents
of the Pacific coast passed through a number of mining
excitements since the days of '49, when the rush to Cali-
fornia followed the discovery of gold in that then almost
unknown and sparsely inhabited country. For ten years
after the discovery of gold in California a succession of
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 805
mining crazes passed over the country, until the country
from the Mexico hne to Alaska had been explored and
found to contain rich mines.
The first rush was to the valleys of the Klamath, the
Columbia and the Frazer, and finally, the Cariboo, Peace
river and Stikeen were invaded and proved more or
less rich. Thousands flocked to these streams, a few
made fortunes and the many, after enduring hardships
and sufferings, returned poor, naked and hungry. The
swarms that invaded CaHfomia in 1849 flowed over into
Oregon. Rich diggings were discovered around Jack-
sonville, and the miners pushed their way up the Colum-
bia into Idaho and Montana, the only route to those
regions being the valley of the Columbia. Rich mines
were found at Salmon river, Oro Fino and many other
places, and in the Bitter Root mountains and farther on
in Montana.
These were the days when the Oregon Steam Naviga-
tion company was formed, and Ladd, Reed, Ainsworth,
Thompson, Kamm and others laid the foundations of
their fortunes. Then in 1856 and the years following
came the Frazer river excitement, which brought riches
to some and disaster to many. People went wild all
over the coast, and flocked in crowds to Victoria, then
principally a fort of the Hudson's Bay company.
Most of them had but little idea where the Frazer
river was or how they were to get there. There were
no steamers running on the Frazer, nor any for some
time from Victoria to the Frazer. All the boats, canoes
and dugouts available could only take a few of the people
who wanted to go, and they collected in camp at Victoria
till there were, it is said, 20,000 people there to celebrate
the Fourth of July in 1858, or thereabouts.
Deposits of gold were fonud along the Frazer from fifty
306 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
miles above the mouth to the Rocky mountains, some
600 miles, and at places diggings as rich as those re-
ported at Klondike were found — as at Cariboo, Antler
creek and many other places. Later there were rushes
to Ominica, Peace river and many other districts. Prob-
ably about the last great rush, and one of the most disas-
trous of all, was to the Stikeen river, sometime about
1875. Hundreds begged their way home from Stikeen,
barefooted, hungry and ragged.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 307
CHAPTER XIX.
THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
P HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, organ-
ized for the purpose of turning into old-
world gold the peltry treasures of the
new world, dates its history from the
year 1668. Under the direction of
Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the
Rhine, an experimental trip had been
made into the wilds of British Amer-
ica, and in the year named the prince, with seventeen
other noblemen and gentlemen, formed an association to
develop the new land. Two years later King Charles
H. granted the association corporate powers under a
charter which styled the prince and his fellows the "Gov-
ernor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading
Into Hudson's Bay." By the terms of this instrument
one of the greatest monopolies of history was created —
one, indeed, of the latent possibilities of which its pro-
moters scarcely dreamed.
This charter of 1670, in the nominal consideration of
the annual payment of two black beavers and two elks,
granted the company of gentlemen adventurers "the
sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays,
rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude
they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits
commonly called Hudson straits, together with all the
lands and territories upon the countries, coasts and con-
fines of the seas, bays, etc., aforesaid, that are not already
actually possessed by or granted to any of our subjects.
308 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince
or state."
The vagueness of this patent was reUeved somewhat
later on, when the company, with much unwilHngness,
agreed to accept the grant as conveying control only
of all lands watered by streams flowing into Hudson
Bay. Along with the right to trade throughout the vast
territory that was the subject of royal patent went abso-
lute lordship and entire legislative, judicial and execu-
tive power. Nor was this "right to trade" less absolute
than the civil authority that went with it, as is witnessed
by the letter of the charter. By its terms the company
received the right to "the whole and entire trade and
traffic to and from all havens, bays, creeks, rivers, lakes,
and seas, into which they shall find entrance or passage
by water or land out of the territories limits or places
aforesaid."
The company's first post was established at the mouth
of the river flowing into James bay at its extreme south.
It was known as Moose Factory. Not long afterward
settlements were established at Forts Albany, Churchill
and York, commanding the whole western shore of the
great bay. Year by year the strength and prosperity
of the company grew greater, although, after obtaining a
firm footing on the shore of Hudson Bay the corpora-
tion, contrary to what might have been expected, did not
seek immediately to penetrate into the immense terri-
tory to the west and south. So slow, indeed, were the
managers to push the development of its territory that in
1749 an unsuccessful attempt was made in the British
parliament to annul the company's charter on the ground
of "non-use;" for there were only about 120 regular em-
ployes and some four or five forts on the coast.
From its first organization the Hudson's Bay company
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 311
met opposition at the hands of the French, In 1627 a
French company had been organized under a charter
conferred by Louis XIII. The terms of the French char-
ter were almost identical with those under which the
English company operated, and in the inevitable rivalry
between the two corporations there was destined to be no
lack of bloodshed. The losses suffered by the English
company were not alone commercial, due to competition;
the French sent numerous military expeditions against its
forts, and losses suffered on this account amounted up
to the year 1700 to £215,514.
The successors of the French in making trade uncom-
fortable for the British company were large numbers of
fur traders wdio spread over Canada after the cession of
that territory to Great Britain, and who finally encroached
on the lands of the Hudson Bay corporation. The his-
tory of the company from this time on was one of romance
and tragedy. The rivals for trade employed every artifice
for outwitting one another, and the liquor which they in-
troduced among the Indians for the furthering of their
ends wrought the demoralization of the savages. Back-
ers of the company in England became alarmed at its fail-
ure to realize their expectations. The independent trad-
ers were outwitting the company's factors at their own
game. The managers in England were anxious to have
the American agents push inland, but the latter were
afraid to venture into a region of unknown perils; so it
happened that it was more than 100 years before the
company's agents penetrated the Red river region, which
later on became the center of their activity. The inde-
pendent traders, on the other hand, sent their agents year
by year from Montreal up the Ottawa and on by boat
and by portage through Lake Nipissing, Lake Huron,
Lake Superior, Rain lake and Lake of the Woods, and
16
312 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
down Winnipeg river and lake to the base of the Rocky
mountains.
These traders ingratiated themselves with the natives
and as a result secured the best of the furs which the
Indians had to offer, while the Hudson's Bay company
was dealing mainly in otter apd beaver skins, and those
of an inferior quality. In 1783 the independent fur trad-
ers combined under the style of the North-West company
of Montreal. In its service about 5,000 men were em-
ployed, and although the fierce competition that imme-
diately broke out impaired the revenues of the British
company for a time, yet from the springing up of opposi-
tion date the intelligent management and the larger suc-
cess of the company. Under stress of new difficulties the
affairs at the posts on Hudson Bay were managed
with greater prudence and its traders in the interior oper-
ated with more discretion. The traders of the North-
West company had scaled the Rocky mountains and were
bartering with the Indians along Peace river. Traders
of the British company followed. The North-West com-
pany built forts. The Hudson's Bay company built forts
to match them or excel them. Fraud met fraud, artifice
artifice, and when one struck a blow the other never was
known to turn the other cheek.
About the time the rivalry was at its most intense pitch.
Lord Selkirk, a Scotch peer, obtained, in 181 1, a grant
from the Hudson's Bay company in what then was known
as the district of Ossiniboia. With a view to providing
homes for the suq^lus population of the Scottish high-
lands, his agent, Miles Macdonell, in 1813, planted a set-
tlement on the banks of the Red river. Fort Daer at
Pembina was the first fortification. In one year's time
the colonists numbered 200. But the North-West com-
pany wanted those fertile plains along the Red river for
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 313
itself. It desired them preserved as hunting grounds, and
consequently its agents began a systematic campaign of
intimidation, which sometimes did not stop short of actual
violence, with the hope of driving out the unwelcome
settlers. As the Scotch colonization scheme prospered,
its promoters building forts and extending their com-
mercial operations, the opposition and, indeed, the des-
peration of the North-West company grevv^ more intense.
The French-Indian half-breeds were inflamed to commit
depredations on the property of the Highlanders and
their homes and mills and store-houses were burned.
The Earl of Selkirk hastened to the rescue, reorganized
the community and addressed himself to the task of
strengthening the colonists' means of defense and offense.
In this he was successful and the colony remained in the
control of his family until 1835, when his claims over a
territory colonized by not less than 5,000 souls were
transferred to the Hudson's Bay company.
To return, however, to the time of the fifth earl of Sel-
kirk, the competition that was aimed at him reached its
climax in 1816 in a battle in front of Fort Garry, the
Hudson's Bay company's chief post in the Red river
region. In this conflict twenty men, including several
officers and Governor Semple himself, lost their lives.
This was not the end of the fighting, but the fighting
proved the death of trade, and not until the business of
both the rival companies was entirely destroyed, so far
as profit was concerned, did the officers of each awake
to the folly of such a course. Then, in the year 1821,
under act of parliament a coalition was effected. The
North-West company ceased to exist and thenceforth the
Hudson's Bay company possessed the vast field without
rival. Not long after the coalition George Simpson, a
young Scotchma,n of great ability, was given control in
314 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
North America with the title of governor-in-chief of
Rupert's land. For forty years he managed the affairs of
the consolidated companies, winning wealth and honor.
Under his government the company prospered, until, in
i860, it was operating 155 establishments with twenty-
five chief factors in charge and employing twenty-eight
chief traders, 152 clerks and 1,200 other employes, be-
sides many thousand Indians.
In 1869, at the demand of the Dominion of Canada,
the company surrendered its monopoly of the northwest
in consideration of the payment of £300,000 sterling, and
the transfer to it of one-twentieth of the land within the
fertile belt, besides 50,000 acres immediately surrounding
its posts. Thus the Hudson's Bay company surrendered
its monopoly to begin its latter day career as an immense
commercial corporation.
In all the vast territory the fur trade of which is in
the hands of the Hudson's Bay company there are only
a few real forts. These are surrounded with stone walls,
and are veritable strongholds. All the rest of the posts
to which the name of fort has been given are merely trad-
ing stations, fortified to an extent, it is true, but only so
much as the wildness of the country makes absolutely
necessary. At these trading stations all exchange is by
barter. Skins are the standard of value, the beaver skin
being the unit. In trade with the Indians the officers
of the company have never made any pretense of giving
the actual value of the more valuable skins. It is pre-
sumed that they have satisfied their consciences with the
excuse that to pay more for a valuable skin than for a
cheap one would lead to the speedy extinction of the rarer
fur-bearing animals, since the Indians would trap the
valuable to the neglect of the more plentiful. It is not on
record, however, that the company ever has "evened
BOOK FOR GOLD-SESKERS. 315
things up" by paying the simple savage more than the
vakie of the cheap skins.
Methods of trade in the northern and southern portions
of the Hudson bay region are radically different. The
Indians of the north are a race of solitary trappers, while
those of the south go in bands and hunt and make the
rounds of their traps on horseback. The finer furs come
from the former; the coarser furs, the buffalo hides and
the leather from the Indians of the south, whose homes
are along the Saskatchewan. The Indians of the north-
ern district are practically in a state of peonage to the
Hudson's Bay company. Throughout the spring and
summer the company makes advances to the Indians of
such supplies as they need for their sustenance, these to
be paid for at the end of the hunting season. Being con-
stantly in debt they are constantly dependent, but what-
ever may be said against the system, it is none the less
true that the company's rule is as paternal as it is auto-
cratic. In the case of the southern Indians, however, that
sort of transaction will not serve. Those who live in the
saddle are not easily kept in subjection; consequently
trade with these natives has more of the character of com-
merce among equals, and so unfeigned is the respect in
which the company's agents hold these Indians that in the
course of trade many gifts are employed to keep the red
men in good humor, whilst stout stockades and firearms
in reserve are provided against a possible day of bad
humor.
The supreme authority in the resident government of
the Hudson's Bay company is the governor's council,
when it is in session. Apart from the two or three days in
each year when this council is sitting the governor is
supreme, and that functionary, whose ofhcial title is gov-
ernor of Rupert's land, holds his authority ivoxn the offi-
316 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
cers resident in London. These are a governor, a deputy
governor and a committee of five directors, all subject to
annual election by the voice of the stockholders at a gen-
eral meeting in November.
The commercial organization of the company is some-
what complicated. Resident in the localities where the
transactions with the Indians are carried on are members
of what is known as the "Fur Trade." The members of
the Fur Trade are divided into two classes, chief factors
and chief traders, who individually are entitled to attend
the annual meetings of the governor's council. The ser-
vice of the members of the Fur Trade is rendered to the
company on a thoroughly profit-sharing basis. Their
aggregate interest in the company is comprised in a cer-
tain definite number of shares, of which a chief factor is
given two shares and a chief trader one. Thus fluctua-
tions in profits produce fluctuations in income. Vacancies
in the Fur Trade are filled by election, the chief factors
by a majority vote electing new members to their body
from among the chief traders, while the chief traders are
drawn from the ranks of the salaried clerks. The salaried
clerks in their turn are recruited from importations from
Great Britain and the older portions oi the Dominion, as
well as from among the laborers employed about the trad-
ing posts, though these latter rarely rise higher.
It is difficult for one acquainted only with thickly popu-
lated regions to realize over what a vast territory the
operations of the Hudson's Bay company reach. From
the Red river region to Great Slave lake the company has
its voyageurs plying their canoes over i,ooo miles of lakes
and rivers. The Mackenzie river carries them 500 miles
farther to the Arctic ocean. Between Moose Fort and
the trading posts of British Columbia is 2,000 miles of
forest and stream, with subject Indians and shrewd trad-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 317
ers all along the line, only fewer in number than the ani-
mals in whose pelts they trade. Between the company's
posts at Fort Simpson and Sault Ste. Marie intervenes a
space of 2,500 miles, and all this territory is managed
from one central oftice and tributary to one corporation
of stockholders.
The company's original chartered territory, together
with the immense region into which its influence extends,
is divided into four departments. These departments or
sections are known as the Montreal, the Northern, West-
ern and Southern. The Northern department lies be-
tween Hudson bay and the Rocky mountains. The Mon-
treal department embraces all of Canada. The Western de-
partment includes all to the west of the Rocky mountains.,
while the Southern comprises the territory between James
bay and Canada and also includes East Main on the east-
ern shore of Hudson bay. In these four departments
there are fifty-three subdivisions, known as districts, and
each district has a fortified supply house and a superin-
tendent. To this depot the necessary supplies for the dis-
trict are issued and it constitutes also the collecting sta-
tion from which the furs and other produce of the dis-
trict are shipped to the home warehouses in England. In
these districts there are innumerable smaller establish-
ments, all tributary to the main district supply house. In
each fort or post there are from two to fifty servants of
various sorts, besides an officer in general charge. The
rivers and minor streams navigable only for canoes, which
ramify throughout the Northwest territory teem with
company employes, known as voyageurs, who constitute
the last and indispensable link in the chain that connects
the Indian trappers with the civilized customer for his
wares.
318 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER XX.
ELI GAGE'S YUKON JOURNEY.
NE OF THE first persons to bring relia--
ble, authentic news of the rich gold
finds on the Klondike was Eli A. Gage,
son of Lyman J. Gage, secretary of the
treasury. Eli Gage is an officer of the
North American Transportation and
Trading company, which operates on
the Yukon river. In August, 1896, he
left Seattle, bound for Circle City. At that time the "out-
side" world was ignorant of the wonderful deposits of
gold in the Klondike district. Circle City, Forty Mile,
and the Birch creek district were the centers of attraction
for Yukon gold-seekers then. Mr. Gage returned home
in the spring of 1897, and soon after wrote a series of
three articles for the CHICAGO RECORD, which con-
tain so much that is of interest and value relating to the
Klondike and Yukon districts that they are reprinted, in
a condensed form, in this book. Following is Mr. Gage's
story of the Klondike:
"What it was that made the United States pay over to
Russia some $7,200,000 for Alaska some years ago might
be a hard question to answer now, for at the time of the
purchase hardly anything but contiguity to the United
States, it would have seemed, could have made such a
country valuable to us. Recently, however, the atten-
tion of the people has been drawn more and more to 'our
Arctic province,' and each year has seen an increasing
number of prospectors make their way into this country.
/'?<^/MeD'^
>-w
.STKAMI!(.)AT OX TlIK VL'KOX.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 321
until now the papers are full of glowing accounts of the
richness of the Yukon country, and there is every indica-
tion that this year there will be almost a stampede of
miners for what promises to be a new El Dorado. Last
August the writer left Seattle for St. Michael island, the
place of embarkment for the Yukon river boats. The trip
along the Pacific through the Unemak pass and into
Bering sea was made upon a boat chartered by one of the
trading companies, and heavily loaded with food, cloth-
ing and tools, all of which was bound for the mines.
"At St. Michael, the first stop we made, our freight was
transferred to the river boats, and we made the start for
the Yukon mines. St. Michael island is about sixty miles
from the mouth of the Yukon, in Norton sound, and one
of the most forsaken places in the world. The trip out
into the sound for the river boats — which are of the stern-
wheel, Mississippi kind — is attended with much danger
from squalls, and it was with much relief that we went
smoothly over the bar at the mouth of the river.
"Steaming up the river, which has much the consist-
ency of the Missouri and is about as crooked, we stopped
occasionally for wood, which the natives had cut, split
and piled, and for which they were paid in flour, tobacco
and calico. We passed any number of Indian villages
and missions, and finally reached Fort Yukon, the first
place of importance. This is a post owned by a trading
company, and is supposed to be exactly on the Arctic
circle. From here to Circle City is eighty miles. When
we got there it was already cold, and, though only Octo-
ber I, we had had several snowstorms and there was
an inch of snow on the ground.
"As we drew near we could see that the whole town
was coming to the landing place to welcome us, for a
steamboat arrival at a town in the Yukon generally
322 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
wakes up every man, woman, child and dog, and brings
all to the river. At Circle City the boat was unloaded into
the company's store, and it tried the next day to push
on 250 miles further to the other post, but the running
ice gave warning that the river would soon close, so we
turned back and went into winter quarters in a slough
at Circle City.
"Circle City has a population roughly estimated at
1,000;, which includes the miners at Birch creek, about
fifty miles from the town. These men come from all parts
of the country, and they comprise the same cosmopolitan
crowd that usually makes up a mining town. It being
winter, the town was pretty well filled with miners, many
of whom had come in to get their winter's supplies of
food at the stores. At such a time the stores take on
great activity, every one wishing to get fitted out and to
get fitted quickly. Between those with money and those
who were besieging the managers hourly for an outfit on
credit until the following fall the cash buyers were the
more patient.
"jMuch has been written about the exorbitant prices
asked for food, but when one is told that the writer has
seen many outfits put up to last for a year, and that there
were many more outfits of such kind that cost from $350
to $500 than there were at a higher figure it will be seen
readily that living is not much over $1 to $1.50 per day.
Prices are high as they appear to us at home, but when
one can get $1 an hour at the mines, it doesn't take long
to insure enough food to live on.
"With the usual exaggerated ideas of a 'tenderfoot,'
I expected to see men going around with two big guns
and a knife strapped on their belts, and was prepared to
dance when invited at the point of a gun. Nothing of
the kind happened, however, and acquaintance with my
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 323
neighbors demonstrated that such 'doings' were not tol-
erated. A 'bad man' or a 'gun fighter' has no cliancc
here. When such a one arrives and shows his prochvi-
ties he is warned to quit, and a second such evidence
generally finds him very shortly — if he is lucky — in an
open boat in the river. If he is unlucky — that is, if there
are no boats — he will be likely to take passage on a log
bound down stream, with emphatic instructions to 'move
on and keep away from here.'
"As winter settles down and the snow becomes deep
enough for good sledding, many miners start out for the
'diggings,' where the more thrifty put in the Vtinter 'drift-
ing' and 'burning,' when the conditions of the ground
permit. l^.Iany, hov/ever, remain in town, preferring
the congenial air and the companionship of the saloon
and dance house to the isolation of the mines.
"The saloons and the two stores are the only places
to go. Whenever one is looking for a friend and he is
not in his cabin he is pretty sure to find him in a saloon,
if he cares to track him to his lair. Here all the mem-
bers of the colony congregate and play cards, tell yarns
and occasionally get drunk. In the evening the dance
houses open and the faro box is produced, and a man
has his choice of dancing or 'bucking the tiger' to vary
the monotony. In this way the miner in town gets his
relaxation.
"Among these miners one must make his life as pleas-
ant as possible. They come from everyv/here, and the
college man is no better there than the son of a day
laborer. All are there to better their financial condition
by the hardest manual labor, and here, if anywhere, true
equality seems to exist. Almost all are well behaved.
Occasionally a fight is started, but as the weapons are fists
little damage is done.
324 THE CHICAGO RECORDS
"Law is enforced by what are known as 'miners' meet-
ings.' On the American side there is no authority except
that of the miners themselves, and through these meet-
ings justice is dealt out. A man having a dispute with
another involving money or land posts in conspicuous
places a notice that there will be a meeting at a given
hour and place to settle a dispute between him and an-
other, whose name is posted. At the appointed hour
nearly every one crowds into the meeting, a chairman
and secretary are appointed and the assembly is called to
order.
"The chairman calls upon the plaintiff to state his case,
and when this is done the defendant is heard from. When
the principals have testified witnesses are heard from,
and this evidence is heard and digested by the audience.
Questions are asked by any one who cares to do this, and
then motions are in order. Any one can make a motion
for the disposal of the case, which, when seconded, is put
to a vote, and in this way the matter is adjusted. A com-
mittee is appointed to see that the verdict is carried out,
which generally is done. This seems to be the only way
in which justice can be dealt out. The system seems to
have had its origin in a manly desire to give every one a
'fair show,' but it is generally the more popular man who
gets the better of it. At the mining camp these cases gen-
erally are matters relating only to mining matters, but
in the towns they embrace all sorts of questions, and it is
here, more than at the 'diggings' that the popular one has
a 'cinch.'
"As winter settles down and the days grow shorter and
shorter the monotony of life becomes irksome. The cold
is intense, the mountains seem a prison, and the knowl-
edge that one has no choice but to stay it out, unless he
takes the long overland trip, makes life dreary. The
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 325
mails are uncertain and far apart. No newspapers find
their way in except in the summer. A man is out of the
world, and ahiiost as far removed from it as if he were
in the moon. To a man who loves his home, his wife, his
children and his friends the sense of isolation and help-
lessness is depressing. It seems to him that it would not
be so bad could he hear from home and know how they
all were, but the long months drag slowly by until the
first of the year, when mail sometimes finds its way in,
having left the states some three or four months before.
"To see the excitement that the mail from the outside
makes, to see the eagerness with which men press up to
the postmaster's desk for their letters, and the trembling
hands as they are opened, and the filling eyes as they are
read, touches the heart. The first two or three days after
the mail's arrival find the morals of a town vastly im-
proved, but this soon wears away, and the old habits are
resumed.
"Dec. 19 the writer, after carefully making all need-
ful arrangements, with twelve dogs, three sleds, two In-
dians and 1,200 pounds of 'grub,' bedding and camp out-
fit, started on the overland trip, a distance of 1,000 miles,
to the sea coast. We left Circle City at 9 o'clock, just as
day was breaking, with the thermometer at 46 degrees
below zero. As we went through the town with t'ne dogs
yelping and our men yelling, every saloon door opened,
and all inside came out to wish us good luck and a safe
journey.
"It was turning the face away from many good friends
— many whom I hope to meet again — and tackling a
great unknown, but the many delays which had kept us
back for two weeks made every one light-hearted and
happy at getting started at last, and we soon passed
through the town, down the river bank, and on to the ice
326 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
in the river, where a bend in the river soon hid Circle
City.
"A Yukon sled, with dogs, is a peculiarity of the coun-
try. Our sleds were nine feet long, and two of them
were chained together. On this 'double-header' we had
seven dogs, and on the single sled five. The dogs are
hitched together tandem fashion — one ahead of the other,
the wheel dog having a vvhiffletree attached to his traces.
From this is a rope running back to the sled, which, pass-
ing, as it must, between the driver's legs, necessitates the
acquiring of a peculiar gait, for with each turn the dogs
make — as the trail curves from side to side — the driver
has to keep his feet moving from this side to that of the
'gee' string, as it is called, or he will be thrown down. On
the right side of the sled is a strong, smooth pole, reach-
ing about the hip, which is used for guiding the sled.
Between the 'gee' string and keeping the sled from over-
turning a 'tenderfoot' is generally in a dripping perspira-
tion after the first five miles are covered, and his legs get
sore from the chafing of the rope, and the arm mightily
tired from guiding the heavy sled.
"The clothing used in traveling is also peculiar to the
country, mine consisting of a heavy suit of underwear, a
sweater, a pair of mackinaw drawers, a mackinaw shirt,
and a fur cap which came down about the ears and back
of the neck and tied under the chin. The fur being next
to the skin, that part of the head covered is very com-
fortable. Fur-lined mitts covered the hands, and on the
feet were a pair of woolen socks, a pair of long heavy
German socks or stockings, and a pair of moccasins, with
straw in the bottoms. On the sled for extreme and windy
weather were two 'parkas,' one of drilling and the other
of fur. These resemble in appearance a long night gown
open at neither the front nor back, with a hood for the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 327
head. The drillmg 'parka' has around the hood a Hning
of two fox tails. When the wind blows these drill parkas
are put on and the hood is drawn over the head, which
is a great protection for the face. The fur one is used
for 50-degree and 60-degree weather.
''Our first halt was made for lunch about noon. One
Indian took an ax and started for the middle of the river,
where he chopped a hole through the ice for water. After
filling the teapot he returned to where the sleds were, the
other Indian in the meantime having gone up the bank
for dry wood. In a few minutes we had a roaring fire,
the water was boiling, beef tea was made, and this, with
hard tack, constituted our first meal. The cups and
spoons W'Cre quickly put away in tfie grub box, the sled
lashed, and within half an hour we w'ere again push-
ing on.
"At 2:30 o'clock it was getting dark, but a full moon
and a clear sky made it nearly as bright as day, so we
kept going until 6 o'clock, when we stopped for the night,
having made twenty-five miles and overtaken a party two
days ahead of us. The Indians went up the bank like
squirrels, and having picked out a good place for the
tent, cleared away the snow and began felling some fir
trees. These were soon cleaned of their boughs, which,
being spread down on the ground where the tent was to
go, were to serve for our beds. Our tent, an 8 by 10
wall tent, was soon put up; the stove (built especially
for the trip, 18 inches wide and 30 inches long) was in
position; the pipe (of the telescope kind) was in place;
a fire was soon going and camp was made. The dogs
were unhitched and were left mousing around for a good
place to make their bed, while we prepared supper. Bacon
was sliced up and fried, beans (already boiled) were
warmed, baking-powder bread was baked, the tea was
328 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
set boiling. Then victuals were all divided into equal
parts, and when supper was over there wasn't enough
left to feed a snow bird.
"Our tin plates, cups and cutlery having been washed,
a big square bucket about two-thirds full of water, was
put on to the stove. When this was boiling flour, dried
salmon and bacon were thrown in, the whole mess boiled
a little, then cooled and divided into twelve equal parts
for the dogs. When this was consumed and the dogs
satisfied, robes were spread down, thick night caps and
socks made of caribou skin were drawn on, every one
crowded under his robe, the candle was put out and the
first day of Arctic travel was at an end. As the fire went
out and the heat with it, the cold began to get in, and it
was not long before robes were drawn over the head and
the camp was asleep.
"Six o'clock found us astir, and it was not long before
a pile of flapjacks were fried, these with cofifee being our
breakfast. When this was dispatched the bedding was
rolled up and tied, caps, moccasins and mitts were put on
and the tent was struck and folded into a small bundle.
All this was carried to the sleds by some, while others
hunted up the dogs, now scattered around under the
trees, where they had passed the night.
"A Siwash dog is the foulest, meanest, laziest and most
profanity-provoking animal I ever met, and I suppose
that it is the most abused animal that comes under the
white man's lash. In Alaska these dogs answer the pur-
pose of the horse in America, being used both for pack-
ing and for hauling. A good dog was worth $150 when
we left Circle City, and almost anything that had four
legs brought not less than $75. I have seen white men
beat their dogs so unmercifully that one had to inter-
fere. A heavy whip or a big stick satisfies the driver for
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 3S1
a time, but when on much of a trip a chain seems to fit
their needs better. When a dog is beaten over the body
and head with a chain it is pretty brutal, and many a dog
has had ribs and legs broken and eyes knocked out.
Strange to say, however, the white man as a rule is intel-
ligent enough to provide for his dogs, even though he
beats them more unmercifully than do the natives.
"Around an Indian village the dogs subsist almost
entirely on refuse, as the natives at all times are either
too hard up or too indifferent to give their dogs any
food that a human being can eat. They will hitch up a
team and start out for a journey with dogs looking so
thin and weak that one doubts their ability to go five
miles. If he follows them a day, however, he w'ill be
mightily tired at night. Talk of the Hves of a cat!
They are not to be considered in the same instant with
the tenacity with which a Siwash dog hangs to life. With-
out exaggeration, I have seen an Indian start out with a
team of dogs and travel eighty miles in three days, and
there was not a dog but had to lean against a building
to howl, so thin and weak w^ere they. With all their fiith-
iness and meanness they are, as a rule, hard workers and
faithful. When they once understand that the driver is
going to do the driving they get over long distances and
haul big loads. In ordinary weather, when it is not
colder than 25 degrees below zero, they can go for ten
days without eating anything but snow, and still keep
pretty strong and fat.
"Having made the morning start with much yelling,
some urging and just a little profanity, the procession
was soon under way, and with the good trail which w^e
had a three miles an hour gait was not hard to keep up.
Every few miles we would pass small piles or a cache of
flour, bacon and canned goods which some husky miner
17
332 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
was slowly moving up the river. The failure of the last
boats to get farther up the river had left quite a shortage
of flour and bacon above, and the thrifty ones were 'pull-
ing their freight' from Circle City to the Klondike, a dis-
tance of 300 miles. Most of them had only three or four
dogs, and in consequence were compelled to double and
triple trip it. One loads his sled to the limit of the dogs'
endurance in the morning and travels until about 2
o'clock in the afternoon, when he unloads and piles his
stuff near the trail and returns for the rest of the load,
staying for the night at the place where he started in the
morning. The next morning he takes the rest of his
load, or as much as he can haul, and goes ahead to the
point where the first of the load was left. The next day
he pushes on in the same way, until eventually his des-
tination is reached.
"One can imagine how much patience and hard work
this entails, but stranger than this is the Yukoner's feeling
of security that his cache when he leaves it will not be
disturbed. Travelers pass right by these caches every few
days, and there would be no one to oppose one's helping
himself and passing on with but little danger of ever
being caught, but every one lives up to the one command-
ment on the Yukon, 'Thou shalt not steal,' even though
he breaks the others daily. There is some chance for a
murderer up there, but when a thief is caught he is a
goner, and his death is unmourned. This is the one
great unchangeable law up there, and it is universally
upheld. Whether from fear or whether from the knowl-
edge that each man is often at the mercy of his neigh-
bor, I don't pretend to know, but the fact remains that
stealing in the Yukon is a crime that seldom has to be
punished.
"Our course as day succeeds day is much the same.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 333
Occasionally we strike a bad place where snowshoes are
necessary, and where the trail is lost, and then every one
goes stamping around the snow, 'feeling' for the trail
with the feet. It is surprising how quickly one can tell
after a little experience where the trail is when it is cov-
ered up by snow. Occasionally we pass a cabin, but it is
always at the wrong time of day for us to use it for a
camp. When a cabin is seen about time to camp the
heart of the traveler is made happy, for he knows that
there is a lot of work saved, because no tent goes up that
night.
"Every miner is the soul of hospitality, and as glad to
see you and as cordial in his welcome as he can be. He
won't listen to your putting up your tent, even when his
cabin is small. He won't let you cut any wood or fetch
any water. He insists upon doing this himself, and reit-
erates, 'The shack is yours, pardner; make yourself at
home.' He will often insist upon your sleeping in his
bed, and is content with the floor for a bed, saying to
your protests against routing him out, 'Now, look here,
pardner; I can sleep in that bed all day to-morrow, if I
want to, but you can't, so get in there.'
"Such hospitality warms a man's heart, because it
is entirely disinterested. To of^er to pay for any accom-
modations really would hurt your host, and, though his
quarters are rough and crude, the warmth of his welcome
makes his home a palace. When supper is dispatched
he wants the news and gossip of the place you have left,
and that is all. In the morning he will go with you to
show you a short cut, if there be one, and the strong
grip of the hand, the 'Good-by! Good luck, old man!'
sends you on your way happy in believing that the coun-
try is full of just such men.
"Rough and uncouth are some of them; profane, and
334 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
with tendencies to get drunk when in town — almost all of
them — but there is nearly always a heart that is gentle,
warm and generous.
"After the usual number of upsets, dog-fights, burnt
fingers and nipped fingers and toes, we arrived at Fort
Cudahy, 250 miles from Circle City, and nine and a half
days out. Here we were to rest our dogs and ourselves
and overhaul our outfit, for from here out we must pre-
pare ourselves to get along without being able to get any
more provisions until Dyea is reached. A quarter of the
distance had been covered, every one was in good shape
and there was no doubt in our minds but that we could
stand the trip.
"Fort Cudahy is a trading post of one of the Yukon
companies, and it is about three-quarters of a mile from
Forty Mile, where the other company has its post. It
was on this creek that runs into the Yukon that gold in
paying quantities was first discovered. Four days found
us in shape to resume our march, and on Jan. 2 we made
our start, with a bright, clear day, and the thermometer
43 degrees below.
"At Fort Cudahy I had secured a thermometer which
registered 60 degrees below zero. This I nailed on the
rear of the sled I was 'clerking' on, but later on, when
the mercury in this wenl out of sight and one of the In-
dians mutinied, I began to doubt the wisdom of having
anything that can be used to 'keep cases' on the tempera-
ture.
"As we passed Forty Mile we ran into a stretch of
river that was rougher than any 'rocky road to Dublin,'
and it was interesting (for about a minute) to notice how
many times a minute a man would jump from one side of
his 'gee string* to the other. Sometimes he wouldn't
clear the string, and the result would be a trip, and if one
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 335
didn't come down on his face he would surely get on his
knees. Then, too, the sled had 412 different motions
which kept the hand and arm that were on the 'gee stick'
or guide pole waving back and forth, up and down, in
an effort to keep the sled from overturning. This lasted
for about eight miles, and I honestly think if it had been
140 degrees below^ zero, instead of 40, I should have been
plenty warm enough. As it was, I was soon dripping
wet, a dangerous condition to be in, as one chills very
quickly after perspiring. After the rough ice was over
the trail was magnificent, as hard and as smooth as a
board, for Klondike, the new El Dorado, was only fifty
miles from Fort Cudahy, and the many men who had
passed over the road before us had made the going good.
We reached a cabin that night, where w^e found a stove,
dry wood and four bunks, and you may be sure w'e occu-
pied it.
"The miners of this section had 'chipped in' and paid
for having two of these houses built. They were placed
seventeen miles apart, so that they could be easily reached
in a day's journey. They were open for every one wdio
came along, and were a source of great comfort and con-
venience to all travelers. The next day we reached Daw-
son City, which is the town at the mouth of the Klondike
river, and the supply station for the mines. There was
little there besides a bunk house, a warehouse and a
saloon, but we were welcomed royally as we ascended
the bank, and warmly invited to 'come in and have some-
thing warm.'
"It was here that we became accustomed to associating
with m.illionaires, for every one who was in the town had
from one to three claims each on the new territory, and
while many of them had to 'hang up' the drinks when
they bought, they considered themselves every inch mil-
336 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
lionaircs, just the same, for they had the ground and the
gold was there, and they were only waiting for spring to
get it out. One man I knew, who had started for Dyea
thirty days before we left, had made heroic efiforts to get
by this place, but the temptation was too strong, and he
abandoned his party, struck ofi up the creek, and, having
found a man who was willing to part with an interest
in his claim, my friend went down into his sack and
weighed out $6,000 for a quarter interest in the property.
Many were the happy men in this part of the country,
for prospects had been wonderfully rich.
"A dollar and a half to the pan in three feet of gravel
was held to indicate that $250,000 could be taken from
that claim, for 'bed rock' was from twelve to twenty-five
feet deep. One young man had repeatedly panned out
$5 and $6 from one pan, and by 'drifting' and 'burning'
had got to the surface what was roughly estimated at
$30,000. Every one who passed his cabin was offered
$1.25 an hour to help him work, but he had succeeded in
getting only four helpers, every one else being bent on
getting ground of his own.
"Two young 'tenderfoots' were working in an ignorant
sort of way at burning their ground, thinking that it was
necessary to get to 'bed rock' before they could expect
to find gold. An 'old timer,' passing, asked them what
prospects they were having, and was surprised when he
was told, 'We haven't got to bed rock yet, and can't tell.'
" 'Bed rock? you bloody fool, you don't have to v;ait
till you get there to see whether you have struck pay dirt
or not!' said the old-timer. 'Here, my son, give me that
<yold pan and I'll show you how to find out whether you
are in it or not.' The young men were delighted to do
this, and watch the old man 'pan out' a shovelful of dirt.
The 'old timer' was paralyzed v;hen he roughly estimated
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 337
the pan at $2, and with a 'Well, by , pardner ! this
is good enough for me/ he cut some stakes and became
their neighbor.
'■'He watched the young men the next day until they
got to bed rock (they didn't know they were there till he
got into the hole himself), when he went down, and in a
short time had scraped from the bed rock seventeen
ounces of as pure gold as he ever saw.
" 'Well, I am ,' he said. 'If I'd been told of this I
never would have believed it! I am pretty old, young
men, but if I can't make $1,000 a day shoveling into a
sluice box alone (and I am a pretty poor shoveler), with
such ground as that I hope I may never make another
clean-up !'
"I don't suppose $50,000 would buy these claims to-
day. Such was the news we heard when we had been
in Dawson a little while.
"It was hard work to pass by such a chance, but we
were a long way from Dyea, and had no chance to get
any more grub than we had until we were out, and grub
goes awfully fast sitting around a camp. The next morn-
ing at 6 o'clock we were off in a blinding snowstorm.
The trail was covered, the wind blowing like the dickens,
the dogs lazy and ugly and every man in the party on
snowshoes, plunging more or less blindly ahead. It made
one inclined to turn back.
"All our footsteps had been toward the sea and we
did not begin then to do any 'double-tripping.' Having
picked up a white man w'ho wanted to get home, in spite
of all the new El Dorados in Alaska, we left the town of
rosy dreams and light hearts behind.
"We wallowed and sweat and swore and yelled and
wallowed and swore many times until 1 1 o'clock, when we
crowded in behind some drift wood, and after many at-
338 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
tempts got a fire going-. We were some fifty feet from
the sleds when we had the fire going, and everything
seemed to be all right, but when we got back to where
we had left them there was nothing but two drifts. At
first I thought the dogs had run away, but when we dug
down a little we found them all peacefully sleeping and
warm as toast, the drifting, driving snow having quickly
covered them.
"We made about twelve miles that day, but it seemed
as if we had gone 112 when we finally made camp. The
next day our hearts were lightened by seeing some men
with horses who had broken a good trail for us. This
•made our progress rapid. When two men meet on the
trail they ahvays stop and pass the time of day. Each
looks the other's face over carefully to see if there are
any white spots visible, which, should any be noticed,
are at once spoken of, and then comes the invariable ques-
tion, 'Well, pardner, where are you going?'
"We were two and a half days going the fifty miles to
Fort Reliance, or Sixty-Mile, and laid up here for the rest
of the third day. There is a trading post here, owned and
run by an old man named Harper. He is the pioneer of
the country, having been in the Yukon for several years
(something like eighteen, I believe). He came from far
of? Brooklyn, and gave us the warm welcome every one
o-ets there. He insisted upon our staying to dinner and
supper, and you may be sure that we did justice to the
tender moose steaks, frozen potatoes and yeast-cake
bread which he spread before us. He gave us a cabin for
our Indians and ourselves, and the only way we could get
even was by buying some moccasins our white passenger,
Sam, needed. Some Indians with a toboggan having
started along the trail about two hours ahead of us, we
went smoothly and rapidly along our way the next morn-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 341
ing. Five and one-half days brought us to Fort Selkirk,
or Pelly river post, and here we rested a day and a half.
From Pelly river to Dyea we had nothing ahead of us
to look forward to should we need succor until we reached
the coast, but the knowledge that we were half way and
all doing well made the 500 remaining miles not so much
of a terror after all."
342
THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
CHAPTER XXI.
THE WORLD'S GOLD PRODUCT.
LASKA'S GOLD product and its effect
on the world is concisely treated by
R. E. Preston, director of the mint at
Washington, in an interesting com-
munication to the New York Herald.
He gives the estimated gold product
of 1897 of the United States with the
probable output from other fields. His
communication reads as follows:
"That gold exists in large quantities in the newly dis-
covered Klondike district is sufficiently proved by the
large amount recently brought out by the steamship
companies and miners returning to the United States
who went into the district within the last eighteen
months. So far, $1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike
district has been deposited at the mints and assay offices
of the United States, and from information now at hand
there are substantial reasons for believing that from
$3,000,000 to $4,000,000 additional will be brought out
by the steamers and returning miners, sailing from St.
]\Iichael the last of September or early October next
(1897). One of the steamship companies states that it
expects to bring out about $2,000,000 on its steamer sail-
ing from St. Michael September 30 (1897) and has asked
the government to have a revenue cutter act as a con-
voy through the Bering sea. In view of the facts above
stated I am justified in estimating that the Klondike dis-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 343
trict will augment the world's gold supply in 1897 nearly
$6,000,000.
"The gold product of the Dominion of Canada for
1896, as estimated by Dr. G. M. Dawson, director of the
geological survey of that country, was $2,810,000. Of
this sum the Yukon placers, within British territory,
were credited with a production of $355,000. The total
product of that country for 1897 has, therefore, been
estimated at $10,000,000, an increase over 1896 of $7,200,-
000. From this the richness of the newly discovered gold
fields of the Klondike is evident.
'Tn this connection it is important to know what will
be the probable increase in the several countries of the
world, and for the purpose of comparison, based upon
infomiation received, the following table of the gold
product of the United States, Australia, Africa, Mexico,
the Dominion of Canada, Russia and British India for
1896, and the estimated product of these countries for
1897, is here given:
1896. 1897. Increase.
United States.. $ 53,000,000 $ 60,000,000 $ 7,000,000
Australia 46,250,000 52,000,000 5,750,000
Africa 44,000,000 56,000,000 12,000,000
Mexico 7,000,000 9,000,000 2,000,000
Dom. of Canada 2,810,000 10,000,000 7,200,000
Russia 22,000,000 25,000,000 3,000,000
British India .. 5,825,000 7,000,000 1,175,000
Totals $180,885,000 $219,000,000 $38,125,000
"The world's gold product for 1896 is estimated to
have been $205,000,000. In justification of the above
estimate of the increase in the countries mentioned I
may remark that of the United States is based upon the
deposits at the mints and assay offices for the first six
months of the year, which clearly indicate a largely in-
344 THE CKICxVGO RECORD'S
creased production, and that the increase for the year
will aggregate $7,000,000. The gold product of Africa
for 1896 is estimated to have been $44,000,000. For the
first six months of 1897 the output of the Witwatersrandt
mines, as shown by ofBcial returns, was 1,338,431 ounces,
an increase of 333,928 ounces, as compared with the first
six months of 1896. There is no doubt that the rate of
production in the Witwatersrandt mines will be main-
tained* for the remainder of the year, and their output
of gold for 1897 will be fully $12,000,000 greater than that
of 1896.
"The deposits of gold at the Australian mints for the
first five months of the year clearly indicate a substantial
gain in 1897 over 1896. Upon the basis of the deposits
for the first five months at the mints the Australian Insur-
ance and Banking Record for the month of June esti-
mates that the gold product for 1897 of the several colo-
nies will aggregate 2,700,000 ounces, of the value of $52,-
550,000. This would be an increase of $5,750,000 over
the product of 1896.
"The gold product of jMexico for 1896 is estimated to
have been $7,000,000. The information received indi-
cates that the product for 1897 will approximate $9,000,-
000, an increase of $2,000,000.
"The Russian product for 1896 was $22,000,000; for
1897 it is estimated at $25,000,000, an increase of $3,000,-
000.
"The gold product of British India for 1896, from offi-
cial information received, is estimated at $5,825,000. The
returns of the mines for the first six months of 1897
indicate an increased production over 1896 of $1,200,000.
"From the data above given it is safe to estimate that
the seven countries above named will show an increase
in their gold output for 1897 over 1896 of $38,700,000,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 345
and that the world's product for 1897 can therefore be
estimated at not less than $240,000,000. There is no
doubt that the world's product of gold w411 continue to
increase for a number of years to come, as new mines
will be opened up in all parts of the world, and, with
improved appliances for mining and methods of extract-
ing the gold contained in the ores, I believe that by the
close of the present century the world's gold product
will closely approximate, if not exceed, $300,000,000.
"I have spoken above of the addition likely to be made
in 1897 to the world's stock of gold by the Klondike dis-
trict, by the Transvaal, by the United States, Australia,
Russia, Mexico, India, etc. Of all these gold-producing
countries, of course, the Klondike is at present the one
of most obsorbing interest. It strikes the imagination
to-day as California did the minds of the '49ers. It will
add in 1897 possibly $6,000,000 to the gold treasure of
the world.
"Now as to the influence of such addition to the world's
gold. The influence it will exert depends mainly on
how many years the Klondike district shall continue a
producer and how large its annual increment to the
world's existing stock of gold shall be. There is every
reason to believe that Alaska and the adjacent British
territory are possibly as rich in gold as was California
or Australia when first discovered. I have estimated that
the Klondike district will in 1897 produce $6,000,000
worth of gold. It will add to this product from year to
year probably for a minimum of one or two decades.
And whether the gold comes from American or British
territory is a matter of indifiference, except to the own-
ers, and, to some extent, to the countries producing it.
The effect of the increase on the economic condition of
mankind, on the rate of discount, the rate of interest, the
346 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
rate of wages, on prices and on monetary policies, of a
newly discovered gold field of wonderful richness is the
same, whether the field be located in American, British
or Chinese territory.
"Now, the first influence that the new addition to the
world's existing stock of gold will have will be felt by
silver. In fact, it has already been felt by it. Gold is the
natural competitor — we might almost say antagonist —
of silver as a monetary medium, and every ounce of
gold newly placed on the market deprives from 17-^- to
35 ounces of silver of a possible employment as money
that it might have. I say this because gold, weight for
weight, is now worth thirty-six and six-tenths times as
much silver, and because, at most, half of the gold dis-
covered finds industrial employment.
"The new additions to the world's stock of gold,
whether they come from the Klondike, Cripple Creek or
the Transvaal, from India, Australia or Russia, will ren-
der bimetallism by the United States alone more difficult
and more improbable than ever, and will even seriously
imperil the slender chances that international bimetallism
now has.
"Bimetallists have long been asking the question
where the gold is to be found that is to take the place of
the silver demonetized. The discoveries at Cripple
Creek, in the Transvaal and on the Klondike are a suffi-
cient answer to this question. The mines of the world
have been turning out gold of late years in greater pro-
fusion than ever before. The year 1893 marks an epoch
in this respect. In the report of the director of the mint
upon the production of the precious metals in the United
States during the calendar year 1893 I called attention
to the fact that the world's output of gold in that year
was the largest in history, amounting to $155,522,000,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 347
and that it was 16.08 per cent greater than the annual
average of the period of the greatest productiveness of
the Cahfornian and Austrahan gold mines.
"And in the report of the same series of the calendar
year 1894 I remarked that the value of the world's pro-
duction of gold in that year not only equaled the average
value of both gold and silver in the period 1861-1865,
but exceeded it by $11,204,600, and that the probability
expressed by me in 1893 that the value of the world's out-
put of gold in 1895 and 1896 would equal that of both
metals in the years immediately preceding the beginning
of the depreciation of silver had been changed into a
certainty by the events of 1894, since the average annual
yield of gold and silver of all countries in the period
1 866- 1 873 exceeded that of gold alone in 1894 by less
than $11,000,000. If the production of gold in 1897
reaches that figure, which I confidently believe it will,
of $240,000,000, it will exceed the average yearly value of
both the gold and silver product of the world for the
period of eight years — 1866 to 1873 — which just pre-
ceded the beginning of the depreciation of silver — viz.,
$190,831,000 — by over $50,000,000.
"Leaving out of consideration, therefore, the indus-
trial employment of the two metals, the world now an-
nually produces in gold alone some $50,000,000 more for
monetary uses than it did in both gold and silver during
the eight years (on an average) that preceded the begin-
ning of the depreciation of the latter metal.
"On the supposition that silver has entirely ceased to
be coined, the world is richer in 1897 in material for the
coinage of full legal tender or standard mxoney than it
was at any former period of the world's history, and the
indications are that it will grow richer in this respect
in every succeeding year for decades to come.
348 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
"Hence my belief that the first effect of the new addi-
tions of gold to the stock already in existence will be
an effect detrimental to bimetallism, whether national
or international. There are some, I know, who think
that the increased production of gold will have the con-
trary effect, and that it will lead to the remonetization
of silver. They base their argument on this, that the
increased production of gold will be followed by a depre-
ciation of its value. This might be if the new demand
for gold did not increase more rapidly than the supply.
But the former is likely to exceed the latter.
~N . "There is, in fact, at the present time, no limit to the
demand for gold. The tendency of nations is toward
the single gold standard. Apart from the United States,
there is not, I believe, a country on the face of the earth
that would not adopt gold monometallism if it had the
ability to do so, with silver as a subsidiary or token coin-
age. There is not a country in Europe with any full
legal tender silver coins but would replace them by gold
coins if it could do so without too great a sacrifice. Ger-
many would gladly put $100,000,000 in circulation, in-
stead of its silver thalers. France and all the countries of
the Latin Union would replace their full legal tender
5-franc pieces by gold could they easily get it. Russia's
demand for gold is unbounded. Austria-Hungary can-
not get enough, and so of every other country in Europe.
Japan wants gold now that it has adopted the gold stand-
ard. Even China shows an inclination to follow the ex-
ample of its conqueror, but that, of course, is out of the
question. All South America is crying for gold. Chili
wants it, Colombia wants it, Peru wants it. Venezuela
has some, but wants more. Central America wants it.
Even Mexico, the last stronghold of silver, is feeling the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 351
burdensomeness of its present system in the height of
its rate of exchange.
"More than this. The nations of Europe want gold,
not only as currency, but as war material, for they have
come to understand that gold — gold, not all kinds of
money — is the sinew of war. Germany has a gold fund
locked up in a fortress, and the accumulations of that
metal made by other governments, ostensibly for differ-
ent purposes, are really only so much war material, which
the nations of Europe can no more dispense with than
they can with a standing army or a navy. And where
no such fund can be actually pointed to, as in England,
there is felt the confidence that it can be had at any time
on the credit of the nation. Then it must be remembered
that all great loans are now made and must be made in
gold. Only home loans are made in any other medium.
This disposes of the contention that there is likely to
be any depreciation in the value of gold consequent on
the increased supply.
"Will the new additions to the gold stock of the world
have any effect on prices? Should the increase of the
world's production due to the yield of gold in the Klon-
dike district, as well as in the Transvaal, be any way
near as large as that due to the mines of California and
Australia in the years immediately succeeding the dis-
covery of the metal in those countries, it probably will,
in time, especially if the new additions bear the same
proportion to the already existing stock of gold in the
world as did those of California and Australia. But any
increase of prices that may thereby be caused will be grad-
ual and may not be noticed for some years to come. It
cannot be noticed until gold begins to depreciate in
value, and of that there is no present prospect.
"Shortly after the discovery of gold in California and
18
352 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Australia there was a very marked rise in the general
level of prices, which writers on the subject have gener-
ally attributed to the decline of the value of gold at that
time. French publicists were the first to call attention
to this phenomenon. This was in 1851, 1852, and 1853.
Chevalier wrote about it in 1857. In 1858 another emi-
nent French writer published a book, entitled 'The Ques-
tion of Gold,' in which he showed the greatness of the
rise and the consequences, favorable or otherwise, which
it might have for individuals or for states. The following
year Chevalier took up the subject anew and endeavored
to forecast the commercial and social effects which the
decline of gold might have in the future. In England
several statisticians noticed the same depreciation about
the same time. Newmarch and Macculloch doubted it.
But in 1863 Stanley Jevons demonstrated it in his essay,
'A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold Ascertained and Its
Social Effects Set Forth.' Ten years later De Foville,
after a long and laborious investigation, came also to the
conclusion that there had been a decrease in the pur-
chasing power of money.
"While the value of gold was thus declining there was
a sudden and extraordinary increase in the supply of the
metal. From 1831 to 1840 the annual production had
not exceeded, on an average, 20,289 kilograms, or $13,-
484,000. From 1841 to 1850, after the rich auriferous
deposits of the Ural, and especially of Siberia, had begun
to be worked, the average annual product rose to 54,759
kilograms, or $36,393,000. The annual average was
abruptly raised by the discovery of the gold diggings of
California and Australia to 199,388 kilograms, or $132,-
513,000, from 1851 to 1855, and to an annual average
of 101,750 kilograms, or $134,083,000, from 1856 to
i860. The production subsequently averaged 185,057
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 353
kilograms, or $122,989,000, from 1861 to 1865, and 195,-
026 kilograms, or $129,614,000, from 1866 to 1870. From
1493, that is from the discovery of America, until 1850,
that IS in 357 years, the quantity produced was 4,752,070
kilograms, or $3,158,223,000. From 1851 to 1870, in 20
years, the quantity of gold produced was 3,905,205 kilo-
grams, or $2,595,996,000. This newly extracted gold,
therefore, represented more than 82 per cent of the pro-
duction anterior to 1850, and more than 45 per cent of the
total production after 1493.
"It is easy to see that such a revolution in the condi-
tions of production caused a decline of gold which be-
came manifest in a rise of prices.
"The rise of prices was general at first. In 1858, ac-
cording to Levasseur, the price of wheat, compared with
the price in 1848, had doubled; the price of natural prod-
ucts, compared with the price in 1847, had increased 67.19
per cent; the price of manufactured articles compared
with that of 1847 had risen 14.94 per cent; the average
prices of all commodities had increased 41.61 per cent.
The learned writer took care to remark that the rise of
prices was not due exclusively to the decline of gold. He
admitted, in the first place, that war and famine had
caused a rise of about 20 per cent in the prices of natural
as distinguished from manufactured products, and of 2
per cent in manufactured products, and that, besides,
speculation in 1856 had swollen all prices to the extent of
5 per cent. Leaving out of consideration these transi-
tory causes, natural products had increased, in 1858, by
42.19 per cent, manufactured products by 7.94 per cent,
all commodities considered as a whole by an average of
25 per cent. From this rise of 25 per cent it was neces-
sary to deduct 5 per cent in order to take into account
the effect of the developments of industry and of the in-
354 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
crease of the number of consumers. As a final result he
found that the greater abundance of gold had caused a
rise of 20 per cent in prices. A decline in the value of
money thus amounted to 16.67 P^^ cent.
"In 1863 Stanley Jevons reached a conclusion almost
the same. He believed that the decline of gold could not
be less than 15 per cent, and that it might be more. In
1863, or thereabouts, the consequences of the decline be-
gan to be less apparent than in 1858. The general rise
of prices was succeeded by movements of a very different
kind. Several causes which Mr. Levas&eur had already
drawn attention to began either to counteract or to
strengthen the effects of the plentifulness of the standard
metal, so that in the case of certain commodities there
came a decline instead of a rise, while in others the de-
cline became greater still.
"In 1873, when Mr. De Foville published the results
of his investigations concerning prices, the movement,
which in 1850 was faintly outlined, became very marked
and well defined. That writer showed that the prices of
1873 presented, as compared with those of half a century
before, a rise of 90 per cent for foods of animal origin,
of 30 per cent for vegetable foods, and 45 per cent for
domestic liquors. He showed, on the other hand, a de-
cline of prices of 35 per cent for mineral products, of 50
per cent for textiles and 45 per cent for chemical products,
glassware and paper.
"By a combination of rises and declines of prices, ac-
cording to the method which he called that of budget
averages, Mr. De Foville came to the conclusion that
there had been an increase of 33 per cent in the prices of
commodities, corresponding to a decrease of 25 per cent
in the purchasing power of money from the period 1820-
25 to 1870-75.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 355
"It will be remarked that in this period of fifty years
the quantity of gold produced almost trebled as compared
with the 332 years between 1493 and 1825. The quanti-
ties produced amounted in 1825 to 3,926,510 kilograms,
or $2,609,558,000, and in 1875 to 9,523,696 kilograms, or
$6,329,448,000. Yet the decline of gold was only 25 per
cent. It must be remarked, however, that this deprecia-
tion of 25 per cent was due to a combination of causes of
various kinds, and was not due entirely to the abundance
of gold. Between 1825 and 1875 an economic revolution
was accomplished in the world greater than most politi-
cal revolutions. To describe the revolution just referred
to would be to write the industrial, commercial, financial
and monetary history of those fifty years.
"Judging from the effect of the gold discoveries in
California and Australia in gradually raising general
prices from 1850 to 1873 or thereabouts, it would be only
natural to conclude that the effect of the now rapidly in-
creasing conditions made annually to the world's product
in the Transvaal, Australia, the United States, Russia
and in the Klondike district would have a similar effect,
provided they bore something like the same proportion
to the already existing stock of gold as did those of Cali-
fornia and Australia to the stock already on hand in 1850.
Since 1871 the production of gold has been about 5,200,-
000 kilograms, or $3,455,920,000, or will be by the end of
the present year. Since 1886 alone the product has been
about 2,718,000 kilograms, or $1,806,383,000. The gold
product from 1886 to 1897 has been nearly 25 per cent of
the total output of the gold mines of the world from 1493
to 1885, and the total product of gold from 1871 to 1897
has been approximately 60 per cent of the world's product
of that metal from the discovery of America to 1870.
"Such an enormous production of gold since 1870
356 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
would lead one to believe that there would necessarily be
caused thereby a great rise of prices. But as a matter
of fact the contrary has, on the whole, been the case. A
general decline of prices began in 1873, and notwithstand-
ing the vast increase in the world's stock of gold just re-
ferred to, the decline still continues. Economists and
statisticians of great merit believe that this general de-
cline is due to what they call the appreciation of gold,
although how there can be an appreciation of gold when
the world's output of the metal since 1871 has been about
60 per cent of its total product from 1493 to 1870 they do
not explain,
"This vast increase in the gold stock of the world has
found expression in the lowness of the rate of discount,
in the facility with which municipalities and states effect
loans of great magnitude at a rate of interest lower than
ever before in the history of the world, and in the vast
accumulation of gold and silver bullion in the great banks
of the world. The fact that prices have not risen as a con-
sequence of the increase is undoubted evidence that the
causes of their decline have their source elsewhere than
in the scarcity of gold or of money in general. For, as
remarked above, there is now more gold available for
monetary purposes than there was gold and silver before
the decline of prices began. Not only this, but the substi-
tutes for money with which every business man is familiar
have vastly increased since 1873. With the development
of credit that now obtains in the world the quantity of
the media of circulation can have no controlling influence
on the prices of commodities.
"I know it is almost a despairing view to take that,
notwithstanding the vast additions yearly making to the
gold stock of the world, there is no immediate prospect
of a general rise of prices from that cause; and yet, con-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 357
sidering the simple fact that the addition to the world's
gold stock since 1871 has been nearly 60 per cent of the
world's output of this metal from the discovery of Amer-
ica up to 1870, and that the product since 1886 up to the
end of 1897 (an estimate of $240,000,000 being made for
that year) was nearly 25 per cent of the total product
from 1493 to 1885, I can reach no other conclusion. The
great addition to the world's stock of gold since 1873 is
a demonstrated fact, but so also is the continued decline
of prices.
"The advocates of silver maintain that the decline is
due to the demonetization of that metal and the conse-
quent scarcity of money. Yet money was never more
plentiful, rates of discount and interest never lower, ac-
cumulations in the banks never greater.
"These facts conclusively refute their contention.
"May not the true cause be found in the stability of
the value of gold — the most desirable quality in a money
metal — and in the improvement in technical processes
and the cheapening of transportation — an improvement
and a cheapening still going on — as well as in the almost
universal substitution of machine for human labor?"
It is reported from London that Russian expeditions
have discovered gold fields in the vicinity of the sea of
Okhotsk and that the government is about to send to
the peninsula of Kamchatka to develop the supposed gold
region there. This report caused great interest in the
country, especially among those who are following closely
the enormous gold developments of the world which have
recently occurred. An examination of the map of North
America will show at a glance that the great gold field
of Alaska, which is now being developed, is a part of the
same general line of mountains which supplied the enor-
mous gold production of California; indeed, the same
358 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
general line which produced the gold of Peru, of Cen-
tral America, of the United States and now of Alaska
and the Klondike. This mountain range seems to cross
from the North American continent to Asia at the Bering
straits, and the extension of this general range across
into Asia covers the very country into which the Russian
government is pressing gold developments and the gen-
eral search for gold. The report announces that a Rus-
sian expedition has discovered 12 gold regions in the
vicinity of the sea of Okhotsk, and it believes that the
western peninsula of Kamchatka will develop gold fields
which will, as the dispatch puts it, "be a second Califor-
nia."
Marcus Baker, of the United States geological survey,
commenting on the news from London, said:
"Whether the prediction of the Russians that they are
to develop gold fields in Kamchatka which will rival the
early history of our California gold fields is to be realized
or not, certainly there can be no doubt that the gold of
the world has enormously increased and is now increasing
wonderfully. There are two distinct gold fields to-day
which are producing gold in very great quantities, South
Africa and North America. The Alaska fields are, of
course, a part of the same general line of mountains
which developed such wonderful gold deposits in our own
territory less than half a century ago, and whether the
mountains of Kamchatka and Siberia are a part of the
same general system or not, it would not be surprising if
these reports of large gold deposits there should also be
confirmed. The fact is, there is a greater incentive to
the production of gold to-day than ever before.
"There are two or three reasons for this. First,
silver is so cheap that there is less incentive for its produc-
tion, and the people who had formerly given their atten-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 361
tion to the mining of silver are now looking for new gold
fields; second, gold mining and gold production becomes
easier every year, as new methods develop and new dis-
coveries are made. Take the great gold fields of Cali-
fornia, which were supposed to be worked out years ago ;
the cyanide process now gives promise of making them
again productive, and it is quite probable that it will be
profitable to work over all the rejected material which
was thrown away by the men who covered that great
gold field and to produce from it great quantities of gold.
This is not unlikely to be the case further south, in Mex-
ico, Central America and Peru where such quantities of
gold were mined many years ago. Add to this the gold
developments of South Africa, Australia, North America
and prospective Siberia, and it is not surprising that the
gold production of the world is more than keeping pace
with the growth of business. As everybody knows, the
gold production of the world has steadily increased dur-
ing the past few years, that of last year having been
greater than any in the known history of the world, while
all indications now point to a still greater increased pro-
duction for 1897."
Mr. Baker's remarks that the gold production of the
world has increased with such rapidity suggests some
inquiry upon this subject. The inquiry shows that the
gold of the world to-day is nearly or quite three times as
much as it was 50 years ago. Mulhall, who has been
widely quoted in the papers of the United States in the
past few weeks, indicates in his latest dictionary of statis-
tics that the amount of gold in the world, coined and un-
coined, 50 years ago, amounted to less than $2,500,000,-
000. Taking his figures for 1890 and adding the produc-
tion since that time, it would appear that the gold of the
world to-day, coined and uncoined, is over $7,000,000,-
362 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ooo, being nearly or quite three times as much as it was
50 years ago. Had there been no increase in the popula-
tion meantime there would thus be three times as much
gold for each person now as there was half a century ago.
But the population of the world has increased 50 per cent
in that time, so that the amount of gold for each individ-
ual is therefore about twice what it w^as at that time. This,
however, relates to gold in bulk and not gold money.
A further study of statistics shows that the increase
in the production of the gold which is coined into money
has been as great as the increase in the production of
the metal itself. Fifty years ago only 33 per cent of the
gold in the world was coined ; now, 66 per cent is coined
money. So it appears that w^hile the amount of gold in
the world for each individual has been doubled in 50
years, the proportion of that gold which has been turned
into coin has also been doubled, thus making the gold
money of the world four times as much per individual
as it was 50 years ago.
This increase in gold, coupled with the increase in per-
centage of that metal which is coined is one of the
important facts to be taken into consideration in the de-
termination of the cause of the falling off in the demand
for silver and the consequent falling ofif in its price.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 363
CHAPTER XXII.
A MODEL INDIAN TOWN.
LITTLE CITY of Metlakahtla, in Alaska,
is owned and governed entirely by Indians,
and it has a history that is not paralleled
in any other part of the world. William J.
Jones, who has been sent to the Klondike
country by the CHICAGO RECORD,
visited the Indians' city on his way to the
gold country and sent back a letter, describing the inter-
esting community. He wrote:
"Metlakahtla is nestled on the east side of Annette
island and is one of the first ports of call on the south-
east coast of Alaska. From two mountains with frown-
ing peaks which profile the clear western sky comes dash-
ing down from their snow-capped summits a volume of
water which is one of the scenic attractions of this pic-
turesque coast. The city itself is in an advanced state
of improvement, and the inhabitants, whose ancestors
some forty years ago were blood-thirsty savages, have
developed a remarkable character for utilizing the mod-
ern arts of civilization.
"A little over two score of years ago the Rev. William
Duncan, representing the Church of England, first went
among this tribe of Indians and sought to plant the first
seeds of Christianity in their savage natures. They were
then living on the Skeena river, in British territory, and
V. hat few white men had up to that time dared to invade
their territory of savagery had been put to death. It
required nearly thirty years to wean them from the teach-
364 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ings of their ancestors of centuries gone by, and many
times, so Mr. Duncan informed me, his Hfe was in great
danger; but never once did he betray the sHghtest sus-
picion of fear for his own or Mrs. Duncan's safety. By
kind acts, rehgious teachings and trusting them in all
things, the good missionary was successful in winning
the whole tribe of some 500 people over to the apprecia-
tion of the advantages of religious and commercial civil-
ization.
"At the opportune time he applied to the dominion
government for the exclusive reservation of the site
occupied by the tribe, and asked for protection against
the encroachment of the whites. The reque-st was refused
and the proposition was laid before the American con-
gress, and one of the last official acts of President Arthur
was to sign a bill for the absolute transfer of Annette
island to the tribe of Metlakahtla Indians. In 1888,
under the direction of Mr. Duncan, the Indians moved
to the island, laid out and began the occupation of the
town site of Metlakahtla. What was then a wilderness
is now a thriving little city, and is policed and governed
in much the same manner as the municipalities of the
states. An Indian magistrate, elected by the household-
ers, adjusts all disputes and decrees judgments for viola-
tion of any of the city's ordinances. A council of ten
delegates, which is elected annually by popular vote,
adopts the laws and native police officers enforce its
decrees. Not a drop of spirits is allowed on the island,
and there is only one man of this colony of 800 Indians
who uses tobacco, and he is nearly 80 years old.
"White people are discouraged from coming here; the
Indians want to be left alone to pursue their work. A
large salmon cannery affords employment for nearly 200
people in both canning and fishing, and every depart-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS, 365
menJ: is in charge of an experienced Indian, and many
of them are exceptionally well trained and skillful in
attending to their difificult duties. Last year they sold
over 18,000 cases of salmon for $3.25 a case. The ma-
chinery is of modern pattern, operated by steam and
managed by natives. Close by is the sawmill, which
manufactures a high grade of lumber, and has a capacity
of 10,000 feet a day. Scattered throughout the city are
six stores, all well stocked with staple articles of com-
merce, and it is particularly noticeable that there is a
general lack of cheap jewelry or catch-penny Yankee
notions. In all of the stores I only noticed one white
shirt for sale, and it was marked at 55 cents. The streets
are laid ofif on straight lines, and substantial broad side-
walks lead to all parts of the city. Each family lives in a
neat one or two story cottage, neatly painted, and in
the center of large-sized lots, in which grow all kinds
of vegetables, flowers and house plants. The dwellings
are painted white, and the rooms are as comfortably fur-
nished as the majority of houses in more civilized com-
munities. One feature in particular I noticed was the
large, open and old-fashioned fireplaces that were so
noticeable in the times succeeding the colonial days.
"A large school, divided into three departments, two
of which are under the control of white people, and the
other — the juvenile class — is taught by a native, furnishes
the necessary educational facilities. The average daily
attendance, I am told, is about ninety pupils, A hand-
some, large church building, the interior of which is
tastily arranged, and with a seating capacity of about
600, is the place where these people assemble each Sun-
day for worship. One of the attractive features of this
unique community is the native band of thirty pieces.
The music is good, and many of the national airs are
366 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
played two or three times a week. The leader is a full-
blooded Indian by the name of Ben Halden, and is 24
years old. He can play a tune on any instrument on the
island, and the only instruction he ever received was
from Mr. Duncan. The string band is exceptionally good
and afifords music for all dances and entertainments. An
electric plant is being installed, and next winter every
dwelling will be supplied with artificial illumination.
"Happy and contented as these people are in their
little island homes, surrounded with all the necessary
comforts of civilization, it has not been their province
to escape from the attempted enforcement, or, rather,
encroachment of what is regarded as modern civilization.
Their little island was invaded by prospectors in their
efiforts to find gold, and some few miles distant rich and
valuable quartz ledges were discovered and at once a
company of rich men was formed in San Francisco to
wrest the wealth away from the rightful owners. The
good guardian of the community, the Rev. Mr. Duncan,
went to Washington and told the president about his
little colony, its prosperous condition, and asked to have
their island freed from the threatened invasion of white
men. The appeal was not in vain, and the secretary of
the interior has just instructed the United States district
attorney of Alaska to order the prospectors to vacate
the island under penalty of prosecution for trespassing.
"The founder of this remarkable little colony, and
which is about the only tribe of Indians on the coast
which has not suffered or deteriorated greatly from the
effects of religious contagion, is a short, little old man
who is passing down the shady side of three-score and
ten years. His eyes are bright, his step elastic, and his
whole demeanor denotes the vast reserve and control
over an abundance of will power. In his every effort
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 367
in behalf of his charges he is sincere, and their success
parallels his own happiness. Already he realizes the
approach of the first golden rays of the sunset of his exist-
ence, and is now planning and laying out the work for
the education and guidance of his successor, who will
soon be nominated."
The Episcopal mission at Circle City recently estab-
lished a hospital, a much-needed institution in a place
where every man is supposed to be for himself alone.
Bishop Rowe of the Alaska diocese, recently gave some
interesting facts about the field of mission work under
his charge. The bishop, whose official residence is in
Sitka, personally makes the round of all the stations of
the interior, that he may get a better understanding of
the work, which for the greater part is among the Indians.
There are three missions — St. James, Fort Yukon and
Circle City — that administer to about 2,000 natives, 1,300
of whom are baptismal members of the church ; and there
are several other stations besides these. Much pains-
taking work has been done in ofifering them the scripture
in a way that they can understand. Many of the Indians
can read in their own language, which, as printed, con-
sists of a literature of translations of the bible, prayer-
book and hymn-book. These Indians seem particularly
susceptible to religious teaching. At Anvik, near the
mouth of the river, there are commodious, well-built
mission buildings in a beautiful location. The Rev. J. W.
Chapman is in charge. In addition to religious teaching
there is a day and boarding school that has made notice-
able progress in enlightening the people. A little educa-
tion seems to show more quickly when applied to an
Indian than it does on any other race. It shows on the
surface. It smooths out the wrinkles on his forehead as
if the tangled threads of life had been set aright. He
368 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
looks much better, and no doubt the effect is far-reach-
ing.
The impressive form of the Episcopal service is ren-
dered in church, with some additions, in that the cate-
chetical part is repeated over again in the Indian lan-
guage. The responses by the dark portion of the congre-
gation are solemnly and religiously performed, even the
little children giving almost painful attention and lisping
the strange words, to the wonder of the white contingent.
Then as best they can they follow somewhat laboriously
in the singing.
A thousand miles is as nothing in Bishop Rowe's juris-
diction. It is more than that far from Anvik to Circle
City, and yet they are spoken of as neighbors. The Rev.
J. L. Prevost has charge spiritually of the few hundred
miles of the river, which includes the mining towns and
the post at the mouth of Tanana river, which latter place
is called Fort Adams; the mission is designated St.
James. Mr. Prevost has made that station his residence
for two or three years. A boarding school for natives
is there, and among other enlightening influences he has
started a small newspaper, which is issued red-hot from
the press twice a year, and it is a very interesting little
paper, for it contains the news of the country — something
of all that is going on — from Herschel island to the
mines and from Bering sea to Mackenzie river. Mr. Pre-
vost has a small steamboat at his disposal and is enabled
to move thoroughly over his field. The work of relig-
ious teaching at Fort Yukon for the most part has been
deputed to a native catechist.
Other protestant denominations have missions on the
Yukon and along the coast off Alaska, notably the Pres-
byterians and the Methodists, and besides these the Cath-
olics and the Greek church have long had a strong foot-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 371
hold among the Eskimos and Indians. There are several
Catholic schools that have done much for the natives.
The work of the protestant missionaries will be facili-
tated by the introduction of the little Siberian reindeer,
provided the experiment proves a success, which now
seems likely, although it will be rather slow in practical
benefits. The Eskimos will need to be patiently taught
new traits. Their natural inclination is to kill and eat.
This likewise is the ruling passion of their dogs, and
both must be trained and restrained.
The majority of the protestant missionaries are mar-
ried, and, of course, have their families with them. There
are those, especially of the Church of England missions,
who have almost grown old in this particular field. Bishop
Bompas of the Selkirk diocese has been in the country
since the establishment of the mission, thirty years ago.
It is said he can take a slab of dried salmon in each pocket
and for a few days out-travel an Indian courier. And
the worthy bishop, while extending that sway of the
gospel, has taken some thought at odd times of worldly
matters. His wealth is estimated at $250,000.
Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the philanthropist of Alaskan
fame, has been for nearly twenty years identified with the
country, and he has also become a wealthy man and
owns valuable property in the United States. The
Jesuits enter the field, of course, to stay. Father Bar-
num, a brilhant man, when asked when he was coming
back to the world again, said:
"Oh, never, my child, to stay any length of time. A
Jesuit, you know, volunteers for life. My place is among
the Eskimos."
A story is told of two missionaries, both nominally of
the same faith, who were established at Point Barrow,
which is the very northernmost point of land in Alaska,
19
372 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
jutting away out into the Arctic ocean, and almost within
signahng distance of the north pole. At the beginning
of winter, when the nearest other white men were 500
miles away, they fell out with each other, and both got
so mad that they wouldn't speak; and it was for keeps,
too. During the long winter they lived in the same
house, but neither ever said a word or paid any attention
to the other any more than if he was not there. They
read a good deal and stared at the wall right straight
past each other, and when they got very lonesome they
went out and talked to the Eskimos. When they came
back and met again they didn't even recognize each
other's presence so far as to look disgusted. Time passed
very slowly with them. In fact, the missionary that came
away in the boat when summer came admitted that it was
the longest winter he ever experienced.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. HTd
CHAPTER XXIII.
GAME IN THE KLONDIKE COUNTRY.
A]\IE is not so plentiful in the known
gold placer area of Alaska as an en-
thusiastic Nimrod might wish. Still it
is not necessary for everybody to feed
on dog meat on the Upper Yukon river
and in the vicinity of the Klondike gold
field in winter, as a member of a party
which was up there said several of the members did. He
refused the dish, but at the same time he acknowledged
that more than once after food had been thrown to the
dogs, literally speaking, he had snatched it away from
them before they could eat it. Fish which small worms
had appropriated to themselves he did not hesitate to eat,
he said, and was glad to get it.
That is one of the great troubles which will be encoun-
tered by persons visiting the gold field. The farther up
the Yukon one travels the scarcer becomes the food sup-
ply, until in the Klondike region and thereabouts it ceases
almost entirely. There is practically no large game, with
the exception of one or two moose and reindeer, which
have become separated from the rest of the herd and
wandered out there. So that prospectors who intend
visiting the field should not rely in the least on the re-
sources of the country to feed them. There may be
a few rabbits, ducks, and geese in the spring, which dis-
appear very quickly. These are not sufficient to supply
even the wants of the few natives who wander nomad-
ically about the region.
374 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Lower down the Yukon, at certain seasons of the year,
there is abundance of game, probably from 400 to 500
miles from the Klondike river. The moose is about the
largest of the mammals, while the reindeer is fairly plenti-
ful. As the population has increased the game has cor-
respondingly decreased, and in the winter the Indians
there have had hard time securing food, as they are
very improvident. During the season when it is abun-
dant they never think of laying by a supply. There are
beavers on the streams and various kinds of deer, bear,
and caribou. In the winter months these go south and
disappear almost entirely. The polar bear is found sev-
eral degrees farther north, never appearing in that vi-
cinity.
In the mountain streams which feed the Yukon river,
up toward its head, near the Kathul mountain, there are
mountain trout of good size and flavor. Many of these
streams dry up in the winter, as they are fed by glaciers,
which, of course, in cold weather are frozen entirely. The
salmon is found in the Yukon, but only lower down, to-
ward St. Michael. Occasionally they are caught high up
on the Yukon, but the water is rather cold for them.
There is a sort of fish known as the white fish which is
found near the Klondike river, and is said to be excellent
eating. It ranges in size about the same as our black
bass, and is one of the chief mainstays of the Indians. In
winter, if it is not too cold, holes are cut in the ice and
the fish pulled out by means of bone hooks. They are
more plentiful than any other kind, and the ice-cold
water appears to be their natural habitat.
Early in the spring water fowl, such as ducks, geese,
and swan, put in an appearance, but they do not tarry
long, and wend their way after a stay of only a few days.
They are very plentiful when they do appear, and the
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 375
natives kill them by hundreds. The trouble is, however,
that things of the kind do not last as they do in warmer
climates.
Reindeer formerly were seen in very large numbers
on the Yukon, some two or three hundred miles from
where the Klondike flows into it, and a gentleman who
spent two or three winters there several years ago said
recently that he had seen a herd of at least 5,000
cross the river on the ice in one day. He also saw moose
and caribou in herds of large number, but such an
occurrence is an unusual rather than a common one.
William Ogilvie had this to say in his report to the
Canadian government in regard to the animals and fish
found in the Yukon district:
"Game is not now as abundant as before mining be-
gan, and it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any
close to the river. The Indians have to ascend the tribu-
tary streams ten to twenty miles to get anything worth
going after. Here on the uplands vast herds of caribou
still wander, and when the Indians encounter a herd they
allow very few to escape, even though they do not require
the meat. When they have plenty they are not at all
provident, and consequently are often in want when game
is scarce. They often kill animals which they know are
so poor as to be useless for food, just for the love of
slaughter.
"An Indian who was with me one day saw two caribou
passing and wanted me to shoot them. I explained to
him that we had plenty, and that I would not destroy
them uselessly, but this did not accord with his ideas. He
felt displeased because I did not kill them myself or lend
him my rifle for the purpose, and remarked in as good
English as he could command: T like to kill whenever
I see it,'
376 THE CHICAGO RECORDS
"Some years ago moose were very numerous along
the river, but now they are very seldom seen, except
at some distance back of it. Early in the winter of 1887-
88 the Indians remained around the miners' camps, and
subsisted by begging until all further charity was refused.
Even this for some time did not stir them, and it was not
until near Christmas that sheer hunger drove them ofif
to hunt. One party went up the Tat-on-duc some fifteen
or twenty miles, and in a short time was revelling in
game, especially caribou. The other party did not suc-
ceed for some time in getting anything, although a large
district was searched over, but finally went up Coal creek
about twenty miles, and there killed eighteen moose in
one day. They brought in two thousand pounds of the
meat to the post, and sold it for ten cents per pound
to the miners, with whom it was in great demand on
account of the prevalence of scurvy in the camp. A
boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the
district along the river.
"There are two species of caribou in the country; one,
the ordinary kind, found in most parts of the northwest,
and said to much resemble the reindeer; the other, called
the wood caribou, a much larger and more beautiful ani-
mal. Except that the antlers are much smaller, it appears
to me to resemble the elk or wapiti. The ordinary cari-
bou runs in herds, often numbering hundreds. It is
easily approached, and, when fired at, jumps around
awhile as though undecided what to do; it then runs a
short distance, but just as likely towards the hunter as
from him, stops again, and so on for a number of times.
At last, after many of them have been killed, the remain-
der start on a continuous run, and probably do not stop
until they have covered twenty or thirty miles. When the
Indians find a herd they surround it, gradually contract-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 377
ing the circle thus formed, when the animals, being too
timid to escape by a sudden rush, are slaughtered whole-
sale.
"There are four species of bear found in the district —
the grizzly, brown, black, and a small kind, locally known
as the 'silver tip,' the latter being gray in color, with a
white throat and beard, whence its name. It is said to
be fierce, and not to wait to be attacked, but to attack on
sight. I had not the pleasure of seeing any, but heard
many yarns about them, some of which, I think, were
hunters' tales. It appears, however, that miners and
Indians, unless traveling in numbers, or specially well
armed, give them as wide a berth as they conveniently
can. Wolves are not plentiful. A few of the common
gray species only are killed, the black being very scarce.
"The Arctic rabbit or hare is sometimes found, but
they are not numerous. There is a curious fact in con-
nection with the ordinary hare or rabbit which I have
observed, but of which I have never yet seen any satisfac-
tory explanation. Their numbers vary from a very few
to myriads in periods of seven years. For about three
years one may travel for days without seeing more than
a sign of them; then for two years they are numerous,
and increase for two years more, until finally the country
is alive with them, when they begin to disappear; and in
a few months there is none to be seen. If it is an epi-
demic that carries them off, it is strange that their car-
casses are never observed in any number.
"It appears the martens are also subject to a periodical
increase and decrease, and in this case a satisfactory
explanation of the cause is also wanting.
"The principal furs procured in the district are the
silver-gray and black fox, the number of which bears a
greater ratio to the number of red foxes than in any
378 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
Other part of the country. The red fox is very common,
and a species called the 'blue' is abundant near the coast.
Marten, or sable, are also numerous, as are lynx; but
otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown.
"It is probable that the value of the gray and black fox
skins taken out of the country more than equals in value
all the other furs. I could get no statistics concerning
this trade for obvious reasons. The mountain sheep (big-
horn), and mountain goats exist everywhere in the terri-
tory; but, as they generally frequent the sides of the
highest mountains they are seldom seen from the river.
"Birds are scarce. A few ravens were seen along the
river, and three or four remained in the vicinity of the
boundary all winter. They were generally more active
and noisy on stormy days than at other times, and their
hoarse croaks had a dismal sound amid the roar of the
elements.
"A few magpies were seen near Nordenskiold river,
and a few white-headed eagles were also noticed.
"During the winter, near the boundary, numbers of
small birds, somewhat resembling the 'chickadee,' were
seen, but they were much larger and had not the same
note. Of owls, not a specimen was met with anywhere.
Partridges were very scarce, only half a dozen or so
of the ordinary kind being noticed; but at the head of
the Tat-on-duc and Porcupine, ptarmigan were abun-
dant. Wild geese and ducks are plentiful in their season,
and of ducks there are many more species than I have
seen in any other part of the territory. Most of these
were observed on the head of the Porcupine; but, having
no means of preserving the skins, I had to come away
without specimens.
"A very beautiful species of loon or diver was met
with on the Porcupine. It is smaller than the great north-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 379
ern diver, but marked much the same on the body, the
difference being principally in the head and neck — the
bill is sharper and finer and the head smaller; but its
chief distinguishing feature is the neck, which is covered
with long, beautiful dun-colored down for more than half
its length from the head downward. I tried to kill one
so as to get the skin as a specimen, but after I had fired
three times at close range with heavy shot it seemed as
lively as if I had not fired at all. I then killed it with my
rifle, but the bullet so tore and mangled the skin that it
was useless.
"With the exception of a small species, locally called
the 'Arctic' trout, fish are not numerous in the district.
Schwatka calls this trout the 'grayling,' but from the
descriptions and drawings of that fish which I have seen
this is a different fish. It seldom exceeds ten inches in
length, and has fins very large for its size, which give it,
when in motion, the appearance of having wings. Its
dorsal fin is ver}' large, being fully half the length of the
body, and very high. It is of a brownish gray color on
the back and sides, and lighter on the belly. It is found
in large numbers in the upper part of the river, especially
where the current is swift, and takes any kind of bait
greedily.
"The flesh is somewhat soft and not very palatable.
Lake trout are caught in the lakes, but as far I saw are
not numerous nor of large size. They take a troll bait
readily, and a few were caught in that way coming down
the lakes, but the largest did not weigh more than six or
seven pounds. Salmon came up, I was assured by sev-
eral Indians, natives of the district, as far as Lake Le-
Barge, and are never found above it, but Dr. Dawson
reports their dead bodies along the river for some miles
above the canyon. I mention this to show the unreliabil-
380 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ity of information received from the natives, who fre-
quently neither understand nor are understood.
"On the way down salmon were first seen twenty or
twenty-five miles above Five-Finger rapids. One can
easily trace their passage through the water by the slight
ripple they make on the surface and, with care, they can
be taken by gently placing a scoop net in their way and
lifting them out when they enter it. After coming up the
river two thousand miles they are poor, and would not
realize much in the market. At the boundary, in the early
winter months, the Indians caught some that were frozen
in on small streams, and fed them to their dogs. Some
of these I saw; they were poor and spent."
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 381
CHAPTER XXIV.
KNEW YUKON DISTRICT YEARS AGO.
rs^ ELIABLE information comes from Prof.
H^^^BW James Dryden of the Agricultural Col-
H^'^'"^[i^ \\ ^^fe^ °^ Utah to the effect that the Cana-
Kiv-^'v iWi ^^^^ parliament knew of the gold mines
.~'W '-.-'' ''Wj ^^ the Yukon district some years ago.
^^i^^^*^:^' Prof. Dryden acted as secretary of a
f'l^^y:^^!\ select committee of the Canadian par-
' ' liament in 1888. This committee was
appointed to investigate the mineral resources of the
N^orthwest territory. The report of the committee is
printed in a volume of 800 pages, illustrated with maps,
and the Klondike river does not appear in any of the
maps.
But that part of the Yukon district now known as
the Klondike figured extensively in the investigation.
Xow, when every source of information bearing in any
way on the gold-producing area of the Yukon river
is being placed under tribute, this report has assumed
an importance not anticipated by the committee which
made it.
The report is of peculiar interest in that it deals largely
with the mineral resources of the Mackenzie river basin,
for it is highly probable that this mighty stream will
carry many Klondikers toward the Arctic circle next
summer.
Prof. Dryden, in giving a synopsis of the report, writes
as follows:
"As might be expected, the investigation, as it related
382 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
to mineral resources, was less satisfactory than in other
directions; gold fields are not discovered by commit-
tees. But very much was elicited. Before proceeding
to give more detailed information, let me quote the find-
ings, or conclusions, of the committee in regard to the
mineral resources:
" 'Of the mines of this vast region little is known of
that part east of the Mackenzie river and north of Great
Slave lake. Of the western affluents of the Mackenzie
enough is known to show that on the headwaters of the
Peace, Liard and Peel rivers there are from 150,000 to
200,000 square miles which may be considered aurifer-
ous, while Canada possesses west of the Rocky moun-
tains a metalliferous area, principally of gold-yielding
rocks, 1,300 miles in length, with an average breadth of
400 to 500 miles, giving an area far greater than that of
the similar mining districts of the neighboring republic.
" 'In addition to these auriferous deposits, gold has
been found on the west shore of Hudson's bay, and has
been said to exist in certain portions of the Barren
grounds. Silver on the Upper Liard and Peace rivers,
copper upon the Coppermine river, which may be con-
nected with an eastern arm of Great Bear lake by a tram-
way of forty miles; iron, graphite, ochre, brick and pot-
tery clay, mica, gypsum, lime and sandstone, sand for
glass and molding, and asphaltum, are all known to
exist, while the petroleum area is so extensive as to
justify the belief that eventually it will supply the larger
part of this continent and be shipped from Churchill
or some more northern Hudson's bay port to England.
" 'Salt and sulphur deposits are less extensive, but the
former is found in crystals equal in purity to the best
rock salt, and in highly saline springs, while the latter
is found in the form of pyrites, and the fact that these
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 383
petroleum and salt deposits occur mainly near the line
of division between deep water navigation and that fitted
for lighter craft, gives them a possible great commercial
value. The extensive coal and lignite deposits of the
lower Mackenzie and elsewhere will be found of great
value when the question of reducing its iron ores and
the transportation of the products of this vast region
have to be solved by steam sea-going or lighter river
craft.'
"Some of the testimony upon which these conclusions
were based is highly interesting, though the investiga-
tion, of course, covered the whole basin of the Mac-
kenzie, and only incidentally of the Yukon. But there
is also valuable testimony showing the great auriferous
value of the upper waters of the Yukon. Hitherto that
great country up there was only of value as a fur pre-
serve; that has been its chief, if not only, commercial
value in the past. The great the 'Honorable Hudson's
Bay company' enjoyed a monopoly of the fur trade, and
its policy has been to keep the country in the dark. They
at one time owned it by grant from England. They have
forts established all down the ]\Iackenzie and other im-
portant rivers, where they purchase the furs by barter
from the Indians, and the trade has run up to several
million dollars a year. These traders were mostly Eng-
lish and Scotch 'gentlemen's' sons, many of them mar-
rying Indian girls or French half-breeds and spending
their lives in the great northern seclusion, until retired
in old age by the company. Some of these men were
examined by the committee. They were very reticent
about the fur trade, but told what they knew about the
mineral and other resources of the country. At some
of these forts there are English church and Roman Cath-
olic missions established, and a few missionaries were
384 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
examined, and gave valuable testimony in regard to the
great resources of the country. Dr. George M. Daw-
son, chief, and Dr. Robert Bell and Prof. Macoun of the
Canadian geological survey, and others, who had tra-
versed the country, also testified.
"Speaking of the mineral resources, Isadore Glut,
O. M. I., bishop of Arindele, said: 'There is gold in the
sandbanks of the Peace river, and in considerable quan-
tities, but during the winter and in high water it can-
not be mined. The miners make there from $15 to $20
per day. There is copper, and one river bears the name
of Coppermine. It is found there in great pieces. I have
seen little crosses made of it by the savages themselves
when they were not able to have other metal. Sulphur
abounds in several places. I have seen it on the Clear-
water river, and above all on the west bank of the Great
Slave lake. It is there in such quantities that the odor
is annoying to those who pass by. Near Fort Smith
there in a salt mine which is probably the most beauti-
ful and the most abundant in the universe. There is a
veritable mountain of salt. By digging a little in the
earth, from six inches to a foot, rock salt can be found
there. In addition to that there are salt springs, where
during the winter the salt runs from these springs
and forms little hills of salt. You have only to
shovel and you can gather a fine salt, pure and clean.
On the borders of the Peace river stones are found
v.'hich are sufficiently precious to make rings of them.
I have seen gypsum along the Mackenzie and a little
below Fort Norman. '■'' * * In the Peace river and
the Liard river certainly there is gold in large quan-
tities. It is found in the sandbars, and I fancy that mines
will be discovered in the Rocky mountains and that the
gold is carried from that part the same as in British
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 385
Columbia, on the other side of the mountains. I should
imagine, therefore, that there is considerable gold in
the Rocky mountains,'
"Dr. Dawson, who made geological explorations in
the upper Yukon region, testified as follows: 'With
regard to the gold on the Liard river, which is a tribu-
tary of the Mackenzie, I may state further that remuner-
ative bars have been worked east of the country down
toward the Mackenzie. The whole appearance of this
country leads to the belief that important mineral de-
posits will be found in it, besides those placer mines.
There are large quantities of quartz ledges along the
rivers in many places on the Liard river; half the river
gravel is composed of quartz and the whole country is
full of quartz veins, some of which are likely to yield
valuable minerals.'
"Q. 'Is it a gold-bearing quartz?'
"A. 'Yes, because we find gold in the bars, though
not, so far as I have discovered, in the loose quartz. In
fact, the whole country at the headwaters of the Liard
and running across to the Yukon forms part of the
metalliferous belt which runs from Alexico to Alaska
and includes a great area of that country, which is as
likely to be rich in minerals as any portion of that metal-
liferous belt. We should remember that in British Co-
lumbia and on the headwaters of the Yukon we have
from 1,200 to 1,300 miles of that metalliferous belt of the
west coast. This is almost precisely the same length
of that belt contained in the United States, and I think
there is every reason to believe that eventually it will
be found susceptible of an equal development from a
mining point of view. From circumstances to which
I need not now refer, it has so far been more developed
in the United States than on this side of the line.'
386 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
"Q. 'What is the average width of that belt of 1,200
or 1,300 miles?'
"A. 'About 400 miles, on the average. Fort Selkirk,
or the ruins of Fort Selkirk, at the mouth of the Lewes
river, which is one of the main branches of the Yukon,
is about 1,000 miles due north of Victoria, without tak-
ing into account ten degrees of longitude which it is
west, but it gives an idea of the depth of the country
which is worth remarking. You find a country here
1,000 miles north of Victoria in which there is no doubt
you can still grow barley and hardy cereals, a distance
as nearly as possible identical with the whole width of
the United States on the Pacific coast from the 49th
parallel to Mexico, yet at Fort Selkirk we are still 750
or 800 miles from the Arctic ocean — nearly twice as far
from the Arctic ocean as we are here in Ottawa from the
Atlantic'
"Q. 'That would make a square area of 520,000 miles.
Is that what the committee are to understand?'
"A. 'That will express the area of the metalliferous
belt in a general way and may be taken as a minimum
figure. This Yukon country was first prospected in 1880
by miners who came across by this Chilkoot pass. Since
then a yearly increasing number of miners has been
going in. In 1887, this last summer, there were about
250 men, nearly 100 of whom are wintering at Forty-
Mile creek, near the international boundaiy. * * *
The gold which was taken out of that country last sum-
mer, not counting the Cassiar country to the south, but
merely the Yukon district, was estimated by the miners
at $70,000, but that is a very rough estimate indeed, be-
cause there is no way of checking it except by allowing
so much per man on the average. There is an almost
unprecedented length of river bars from which gold is
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 2:JD
obtained in that country. I have not tried to estimate
it, but here and there on nearly all those rivers gold i.^
found in paying quantities. The gold-bearing river bars
must be reckoned in the aggregate by thousands of
miles in length.'
"O. 'All those rivers, meaning the Yukon and ils
branches and the Liard and its branches?'
"A. 'Yes.'
"Though the Coppermine river lies east of tlie Mac-
kenzie, and far from the Yukon, it may be interesting
to give here the testimony of Dr. Dawson in regard to
copper in that river. He said, speaking of the Copper-
mine river particularly, that 'there is every reason to
believe there is a repetition along that river and in its
vicinity of those rocks which contain copper on Lake
Superior and which have proved so rich there. But
that region seems to be beyond the reach of the pros-
pector at present.'
"Enough has been said, I take it, to show that there is
a country up north rich in mineral resources, and the
riches are not, by any means, confined to one little trib-
utary of the Yukon. That the country is rich in mhi-
erals, that it covers an empire in extent, there is every
reason to believe, how rich no one can tell. There has
been profitable placer mining at Forty-Mile creek, near
the Klondike, for some fifteen years, and Fort Reliance
(long since abandoned), which, I understand, is right in
the immediate vicinity of the Klondike, was built away
back by the old Arctic explorers. That the riches of the
Klondike could remain hidden for these many years,
though miners have been working all the time in the
near neighborhood, affords some color to the belief that,
after all, the California gold diggings will dwindle by
comparison with those of the Yukon. It has long been
20
390 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
the opinion tliat when the moss and timber are cleared
off the river sides and gulches (similar to what miners
were obliged to do in Cassiar), the diggings will be ex-
tensive and rich.
"The following extracts from a report made by Capt.
William Moore in January, 1888, and which was pub-
lished in the report of Mackenzie basin committee, is
highly interesting as giving an idea of the mining
operations that were conducted at Forty-Mile creek as
far back as ten years ago:
" 'According to information gathered from reliable
sources: From the ist of May to the 15th of July there
has been taken out at least $150,000, three-fourths of
which was taken out on Forty-Mile creek, as when a
party of men came out early last spring on the ice and
confirmed the statement of the strike of coarse gold on
Forty-Mile creek, most of the men from Lewes river
and the Hootalinqua went right down to the new strike,
which only left eight miners on the Hootalinqua, and
seven on Cassiar bar and the vicinity, four men on Pelly
river, fifteen on Stewart river and seven on Sixty-Mile
creek.
" 'With regard to the richness of Forty-Mile creek.
Miners would not work $8 diggings; they did not con-
sider that amount as wages. They did make all the way
from $10 to $125 per day.
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 291
CHAPTER XXV.
HISTORY OF ALASKA.
CZAR'S dream of Russian aggran-
dizement led to the discovery of Alas-
ka. Peter the Great had conceived
the idea of pushing on past Asia to the
American continent and founding a
Russian empire in the new world. To
this end he sent out an exploring ex-
pedition under the leadership of Veit
Bering, a Danish captain in the Rus-
sian service. The expedition started in February, 1725,
and though the czar's death occurred in the same month,
the monarch's scheme was carried forward by Catherine,
his widow, and Princess Elizabeth, his daughter.
The arduous work of exploring the Siberian coast and
waters continued for sixteen years before the Alaskan
coast was sighted. The second Kamchatkan expedition
was six years in crossing Siberia. It was in the spring
of 1741 that Bering and his lieutenant, Chirikof, put out
into Bering sea, the waters of which Bering had dis-
covered on his previous expedition. They had two small
vessels. One was commanded by Bering, the other by
Chirikof. The little craft became separated at sea, and
never were reunited. Chirikof bore away to the east,
and during the night of July 15, 1741, sighted land in
latitude 55.21. It was afterward disclosed that this was
thirty-six hours in advance of Bering's discovery of the
mainland of America.
Chirikof sent a party ashore in one of his small boats
392 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
to explore the immediate country and secure fresh water.
Soon after leaving the vessel, they passed around a rocky
point and disappeared from sight. As they failed to re-
turn at the appointed time, another boat's crew was sent
ashore. Soon a great smoke was seen arising from the
shore, and two large canoes filled with threatening na-
tives came out from the land. They refused to board the
strange ship, and it dawned upon Chirikof that all the men
he had sent ashore had been massacred. This reduced
his crew to small numbers, and Chirikof decided to re-
turn to the Kamchatkan coast.
The return voyage was attended with frightful hard-
ships and suffering. Scurvy attacked the men, many
died, and the others were rendered helpless by sickness.
After weeks of this suffering, the vessel reached the
Kamchatkan coast, with only the pilot on deck. Chiri-
kof was one of the first stricken with scurvy, but he re-
covered.
Bering's party suffered even greater hardships. After
sighting the coast and making a landing, Bering gave
orders to lift anchor and return to Kamchatka. The
ship became lost in the maze of islands, and was wrecked
upon a barren island. There the survivors passed the
winter, many of them dying. Caves were dug in the
sandy bank of a little stream, and a scanty and uncertain
food supply was obtained by killing sea animals and re-
sorting to the flesh of dead whales cast upon the beach.
Bering died on this island December 8, 1741.
In the spring the handful of survivors constructed a
boat from tlicir wrecked vessel and succeeded in working
their way back to the Siberian coast, where they were re-
ceived with great rejoicing, having long been given up
for dead.
Although the discoverer lost his life on the first ex-
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 393
pedition, his work was followed up by his countrymen,
and in the pursuit of the fur trade numerous settlements
were made by the Russians at various points on the coast.
Of these sealing posts there were about forty, of which
Archangel was the most important. The territory had
been granted in 1799 by Emperor Paul VIII. to the Rus-
sian Fur company, and in 1839, when the charter was re-
newed, sealing had developed to such an extent that the
annual exportations amounted to 25,000 skins, besides
many sea otter and beaver skins, and about 18,000 sea
horse teeth. In 1863 the expiration of the charter of
the company found Russia extremely desirous of being
relieved of the anxiety to which the protection of its
subjects and the maintenance of a government in a far-
away arctic region subjected it. It has been asserted by
some that the negotiations instituted by the United States
for the purchase of the peninsula contemplated reward-
ing Russia, under the guise of a nominal purchase, for
its friendliness to the American union during the civil
war. This view, however, is hardly tenable, in view of
the lack of interest Russia had taken in its American
possessions. The Russian-American Fur company for
commercial reasons had been aggressive, but the Russian
government had confined itself, after the granting of the
charter of the company, to the protection of its Alaskan
subjects and the maintenance of order among them.
Be the motives for the purchase what they may, in
1867 the entire Russian possessions in America were
ceded to fhe United States. The purchase was negoti-
ated by Secretary William H. Seward, who considered it
the most important act of his career, though he declared
that two generations would pass before the value of the
acquisition could be appreciated. There can be no doubt
that he was anxious to effect the purchase, but Russia
394 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
made the first advance. The state department negotiated
a secret treaty, which the senate afterward ratified, pro-
viding for the transfer of Alaska to the United States in
consideration of the payment of $7,200,000 in gold, at
that time equivalent to more than $10,000,000 in green-
back currency. Notwithstanding the fact that $10,000,-
000 was a most inconsiderable consideration for a trans-
action so big with possibilities. Secretary Blaine declares
that "there is little doubt that a like ofifer from any other
European government would have been rejected," it
being a time when, "in the judgment of the people the
last thing we needed was additional territory."'
The state department's negotiation and the senate's
ratification were not the conclusion of the business, for
in order to carry out the transaction contemplated by the
treaty an appropriation by congress became necessary.
There were objectors in congress who opposed the con-
summation of the convention. Cadwalader C. Washburn
declared that when the treaty for Alaska was negotiated
"not a soul in the whole U. Ued States asked for it." He
asserted that the treaty was negotiated secretly, without
chance for a hearing and that the country ceded was ab-
solutely without value. General Butler strongly re-en-
forced Mr. Washburn's argument, declaring that he
would rather give Russia $7,200,000 for its friendship pro-
vided it vvould keep its peninsula of ice and the responsi-
bilities attached thereto. General Schenck and Mr. Shel-
labarger also were in the opposition, but the side that had
for its supporters General Banks and Thaddeus Stevens
finally was victorious. There was much bitterness against
Secretary Seward for having negotiated a "star cham-
ber" treaty, but congress voted the required appropria-
tion. Before this was done, however, President Andrew
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 395
Johnson had taken possession of the country in the name
of the United States.
The name Alaska, formerly spelled Aliaska, is derived
from a native word Al-ak-shak, signifying "great coun-
try," and the world is just awakening to the appropriate-
ness of the designation. From north to south Alaska ex-
tends 900 miles from sea to sea; from Bering sea on the
west to the British boundary line the distance is 700 miles.
Alaska's area of 600,000 square miles is best appreciated
by comparison with more familiar regions. The penin-
sula is twice as large as the state of Texas; three times
as large as California; more than ten times as large as
Illinois; about eleven times as large as New York state;
about five hundred times as large as Rhode Island, and
nine times the size of all the New England states taken
together.
The first period in the development of Alaska is in-
cluded between the years 1867 and 1890, and furnishes a
striking analogy to the course that has been taken in the
opening up of British North America. In the transfer
of the peninsula to the United States the business men
who composed the Alaska Commercial company saw the
opportunity for a fortune, and before the possibilities of
the United States purchase were known or even con-
ceived, the w^ealth of Alaska and its islands had passed
for a term of years into the control of this far-sighted
corporation. There is no doubt that the purchase money,
amounting to less than half a cent an acre, long since has
been returned in profits on the seal fisheries, but it has
been returned to the government's beneficiaries and not
to the government. In the first five years money paid
into the treasury on the lease of the Alaska Commercial
company, paid 8 per cent upon the first cost Indeed, tho
tv.o small seal islands paid a goodly percentage on the
396 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
purchase money for the entire province, and simply in
rent to the government they more than repaid their cost,
but despite these partial showings the fact remains that
the government's bad bargain diverted the income from
a rich property to the hands of a few, who were wise
enough to secure the concession.
In 1890 the lands of the fur seal islands passed from
the Alaska Commercial company into the control of the
North American Commercial company. The new les-
see went farther from the old established trading posts for
traffic with the natives, making such endeavor to develop
the country as never had entered into the designs of its
predecessor. A monthly mail route, open seven months
out of the twelve, was established betw^een Sitka and
Bering sea, and the postoffices that followed the mail
route opened up communication between the interior and
the United States.
Prior to the year 1884 the government of Alaska was
essentially military, that is to say, federal customs offi-
cers were sustained in the territory to prevent the selling
of liquor to Indians and white men. With only natives to
govern there was little occasion for a government. How-
ever, as the wdiite residents of the southeastern coast in-
creased in number a more pretentious government be-
came desirable, but the matter was agitated for several
years without fruit. A convention was held at Juneau in
1881 and M. D. Ball w^as sent as a delegate to congress.
Congress, however, would have none of Mr. Ball in any
official capacity, and while the matter of Alaska's civil
and economic condition had been brought to the atten-
tion of the American government and people, yet Alaska
still was without representation of any sort in congress.
In the next session of congress the matter was brought
up, but no action was taken, and it was not until 1883
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 397
that congress granted the province any semblance of
civil government. The bill which became a law in that
year was introduced by Senator Benjamin Harrison and
entitled 'The Organic Act of Alaska." This bill pro-
vided for the appointment of a governor, a marshal, a
clerk, and district judge, a clerk of the court, and four
United States commissioners, the last-named to have
their residences in four of the principal cities of the terri-
tory and the other officials to have offices at Sitka, the
temporary capital. All were to be appointed by the
president. The first actual representation of the terri-
tory thus constituted in the political affairs of the United
States was in 1888, when the Democrats of Alaska sent
delegates to the democratic national convention and the
credentials of these democrats were honored. The Re-
publican national committee holding office between 1888
and 1892 allowed Alaska permanent representation the
same as the other territories and the same recognition was
accorded by the democratic convention of 1892.
In the spring of that year the efforts of representative
men of Alaska had resulted in the enactment of a law
which for the first time provided for the suitable transfer
of land-titles in Alaska. By the terms of this act in-
dividuals or companies were permitted to purchase land
at $2.50 an acre, and dwellers in towns were permitted
to acquire valid title to their holdings. Up to the present
time Alaska has no representative government, but is
administered by the federal authorities directly, in the
same manner as is the District of Columbia. Up to the
late discovery of gold Alaska has lacked partisans to
plead its cause in congress. Now, however, that the
Yukon region is drawing from all quarters of the United
States the hardiest and the bravest, it has much to hope
from an early session of congress in the way of legisla-
398 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
tion to place it on a level with other unadmitted terri-
tories.
The following are the federal officials in Alaska:
Governor — John G. Brady, Sitka.
United States Judge — Charles S. Johnson, Sitka,
United States District Attorney — Burton E. Bennett,
Sitka.
United States Marshal — James M. Shoup, Sitka,
Clerk of District Court and Ex-Officio Secretary of
State— Albert D. Elliott, Sitka.
Treasury department officials :
Collector of Customs — Joseph W. Ivey, Sitka.
Agent Seal Islands — Joseph Murray. Assistant agents
seal islands: John M. Morton, J. B. Crowley, and James
Judge.
Special Agent Investigation Fur Seal Fisheries, Seal
Islands — Professor D, S. Jordan.
Special Agent Salmon Fisheries — Howard M. Kut-
chin.
Assistant Agent Salmon Fisheries — James C. Boatner.
Interior department officials:
Register of Public Lands — John W. Dudley, Sitka.
Receiver of Public Money — Roswell Shelly, Sitka.
Surveyor General of Alaska — W. L. Dustin, Illinois.
Commissioners — At Sitka, Caldwell W. Tuttle; at
Wrangel, Kenneth M. Jackson; at Unalaska, Lycurgus
R. Woodward; at Juneau City, John Y. Ostrander; at
Kadiak, Philip Gallagher; at Circle City, John E. Crane;
at St. Michael, L. B. Shepherd; at Dyea, John U. Smith;
at Unga, Charles H. Isham.
The opponents to the consummation of Secretary Sew-
ard's negotiation for the purchase of Alaska had a certain
basis of truth for their slur upon Alaska as a peninsula
of ice, for in the north, at St, Michael and Point Barrow,
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 399
welis have been dug through 60 feet of soHd ice and the
same is true along the Yukon. The summit of Mt. St.
Ehas, 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, is covered
with perpetual snow. From the south side of this moun-
tain eleven great glaciers are slowly traveling to the sea,
and one of them, the Agassiz glacier, is twenty miles wide
and fifty long, covering an area of not less than 1,000
square miles. In the interior the plains are covered
with ice for eight months in the year. On the Aleutian
islands, hovvcver, is luxuriant vegetation. There are no
large trees, but the miniature prairies are covered with
rich vegetable mold and a rich growth of grass and shrub-
bery. Scientists predict that from the Aleutian country
will yet be drawn the best supplies of butter and cheese
for the Pacific coast. Along the southern coast of the
mainland the climate is balmy, and even where the win-
ters are most rigorous and long-drawn-out the spring
and the short summer are seasons of rapid growth of
vegetation and of endurable temperature.
There are fliirty or more volcanoes in Alaska, about
eight of which are in active eruption. Shishaldin, a vol-
canic mountain, 9,000 feet high, is known to burn con-
stantly. One hundred miles from Unimak island, where
this volcano is situated, is Pavlof, another smoking
mountain. Mt. Makushin, on Unalaska island, is about
a mile in height, and also more or less active. There are
other smoking volcanoes on Unimak, Akutan, and Atka
islands. Besides its numerous volcanoes Alaska boasts
the highest known mountain in North America. This
peak, Mt. Wrangel, has an elevation of 19,000 feet, and
there are others that crowd it closely. Besides Mt. St.
Elias, with its altitude of more than three miles, is Mt.
Fairweather, 5,500 feet high; Mt. Crillon, 15,000; Mt.
Perouse, 14,300.
400 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
The moimtains at Cape Prince of Wales, from which
the continent of Asia may be seen, are barren and rug-
ged. Toward the base they slope out gradually and end
in a long stretch of sandy beach. The proximity of Si-
beria suggests to all who look across the strait and see
another continent rising before them the desirability of a
bridge to span the strip of water and join the hemis-
pheres. Desirable it certainly would be, but altogether
impracticable, it is said. The current is too swift, and the
vast quantities of ice which fall into the Arctic ocean and,
in the breaking-up season, bear down to the south, would
demolish in short order any abutments that might be
erected. It has been suggested that the strait might be
tunneled or that vast quantities of the basaltic rock might
be torn out of the cliffs on Cape Prince of Wales and used
to form a highway between Asia and America.
To return to the subject of the climate, the coast coun-
try of Alaska derives great benefit from the Japan ocean
current, which tempers the raw air and modifies the harsh
winds that blow from the north. Throughout all the
coast country the precipitation of rain and snow is very
heavy and seasons of excessive rainfall are very likely to
continue for weeks at a time. Nevertheless the Alaskan
rains are not so cold as are the rains even in the temper-
ate zone, and while the air is cool at all times it is not raw
at any season. In the interior there is less rainfall than
on the coast, and there summer heat rises to excessive
temperature. The mercury has been known to rise as
high as 120 degrees, but the extreme cold of winter
quickly follows. Fifty and 60 degrees below zero is the
usual minimum temperature, although 70 degrees is on
record. It is the extreme humidity of the atmosphere
and the heavy precipitation at all seasons that produces
the remarkable verdure already mentioned. All garden
BOOK FOR GOLD-SEEKERS. 401
vegetables thrive in this cHmate, and many small fruits
are indigenous to the soil. Up to the present, no stock-
man has made a success of raising either large or small
cattle. The climate is trying to farm animals.
In his report James Sheakley, governor of Alaska, in
i8c)6 transmitted to the interior department the following
particulars regarding the seal catch, the mines, and the
fisheries of Alaska, together with facts touching civil con-
ditions in the territory:
"The summary of the seal catch in Bering sea for the
season of 1896 shows that 7,965 male and 12,641 female
seals were killed.
Season of 1895.
Eighteen American vessels caught 6,454
Thirty-six British vessels caught 24,762
Fifty-four vessels caught 31,216
Number of boarding operations, 171.
Season of 1896.
Twelve American vessels caught 2,907
Fifty-four British vessels caught 17,805
Sixty-six vessels caught 20,712
Number of boarding operations, 181.
Total number of miles steamed by the patrol fleet to
date, 77,464-5-
Number of American vessels seized in Bering sea, 2.
Number of British vessels seized in Bering sea, 4.
"Of the sixty-six vessels engaged in pelagic sealing
but twelve were American. The number of fur seals fre-
quenting Bering sea is becoming steadily less every year,
and all engaged in the industry of pelagic sealing are be-
402 THE CHICAGO RECORD'S
ginning to realize that they have killed the goose that laid
the golden egg. Thirty thousand male seals were taken
by the lessees of the Pribilof islands this year of 1896. I
see no reason why this or even a greater number should
not be taken annually, as the number of males is largely
in excess of the needs of the herd.
"Two million three hundred thousand dollars in gold
bullion have been taken from the gold mines within the
territory of Alaska during the year ending October i,
1896. The greater part of this amount is the product of
low grade ores, much of which yielded less than $4 per
ton. The improved methods in mining and milling gold-
bearing rock have so greatly reduced the expense that al-
most any grade of gold ores can be worked with a profit.
One dollar twenty-five cents per ton is the average cost
of mining and milling the quartz rock at the Alaska-
Treadwell Gold Mining company's mines on Douglas
Island, Alaska, Hunting or prospecting for new mines
has been very active during the year last past, and a num-
ber of good mines have been located. Several of these
new ledges are being developed rapidly, and on some
stamp mills have been erected and are operating with
satisfactory results. Confidence in Alaska as a gold-
producing country increases as her resources are de-
veloped.
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Page
Adams creek 16
Adams Mrs. (Dawson City).. 267
Adverse claims (mining) 120
Agriculture, Yukon district. 386
ALASKA—
Attempt to define bound-
ary 213
Civil government, law
creating 135
Climate 398
Land department district
created 125
Land office officials 119
Land office regulations — 116
Rainfall 228
Temperature 2-8
ALASKA, HISTORY OP.,.. 391
Bering's expedition 391
Discovered by Chirikof... 391
Russian sealing posts 3^3
Russian Fur Company... 393
Purchased by U. S 393
Opposition in Congress — 394
Derivation of "Alaska"... 395
Extent of territory 395
First period development. 395
Fur seal islands £9!)
Juneau convention 396
Organic act of Alaska 397
Transfer of land titles 397
FederaJ officials in Alas-
ka 3S8
Climatic conditions 399
Volcanoes and mountains 399
Temperature 400
Gov. Sbeaklcy's report — 401
Alaska Commercial Co 89, 291
Alaska Miner, The (analysis
of pan values) 192
Alaska placer mines, process. 18
Aleutian Islands 24
Alluvial deposits (mines) 113
Alluvial ground, character.. 110
Amalgam 122
Andreafski 25
Anvik 25
Anvik river 304
Apron (mining) 12i
Arsenic effect on gold 113
Asphaltum in Canada SS2
Assay, for gold quartz 116
Assay, handy method 116
Athabasca Landing 33, 190
Page
Athabasca river
33, 189, 190, 191, 193
Atlanta, Ga. railroad rates
to Pacific seaports 105
Auriferous lodes (mining) — 114
Back door route, cost of
travel 99
Back door route from Fargo,
N. D 204
Back door route, railroad
fare 106
Back, explorer 193
Back trenches (mining) 110
Baggage, pounds allowed
96, 100, 103, 104
Baker Marcus (world's pro-
duction of gold) 361
Bald Eagle mining claim 3ol
Baltimore, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 105
Barnum, Father 371
Bar-rooms, Dawson City 272
Bear Creek -6, 2A
Beaver river 86, 87
Beddoe, mail contractor 261
Beebe creek 49
Bed rock (mining) 108
Beell, Dr. Robert 3S4
Bering sea 24
Berry, Clarence 172, 173
Berry, Mrs, Clarence 173
Biche (Athabasca river) 190
Big Salmon river 78, S02
Bimetallism, effect on of
Klondike output 346
BIRCH CREEK 238
Diggings in winter 276
Gold taken out 277
BOATS—
Back door route 205
How to build 26
Knock-down for portage. 61
Mackenzie river 34, 192
River use 99
Takau inlet 40
Yukon river 85
BONANZA CREEK
15, IG, 94, 162, 164, 1G6, 294
Estimated gold produc-
tion 166
Pan values claims, 164, 166, 179
Big strikes 172, 173, 174
404
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Page
Bompas, Bishop 272
Boston, railroad rates to Pa-
cific coast ports 100
Boswell, T., describes Teslin-
too river 77
Boundary line, internation-
al 213, 291
Buffalo, railroad rates to Pa-
cific seaports 103
British Columbia, gold belt.. 295
Calc spar (mining) 114, 115
Calgary 99, 190
California pump (mining) 133
Camp 0X1 the Yukon 327
Campbell, Robert 85, 287
Camping outfit (see outfit).
CANADA—
Attitude boundary line
dispute 22S
Report on Yukon district 381
Fees 149
Geological survey 384
Gold product 343
Mineral resources 382
Mining laws 149
Royalties (claims) 149
Tariff tax on outfits.. 62, 63, 91
To locate wagon road 292
To open Stikeen route 41
Canadian Pacific railroad ... 99
Canoes 99, 195
Carmack, George W..162, 171, 294
Caribou (Cariboo) diggings
185, 191
Caribou portage 67
Carr, "Jack," outfit 51
Cassiar gold district... 48, 185, 302
Chandindu river 88
Chapman. Rev. J. W 367
Charleston, S. C, railroad
rates to Pacific sea-
ports 105
Che-cha-cos (tenderfeet) 109
Chicken creek 296
Chilkat river 292
Chilkoot inlet 66
CHILKOOT PASS 97
First expedition through.. 39
Chippewayan Fort 33
Church, Dawson City 272
Cincinnati, O., railroad rates
to Pacific seaports. 105, 106
Citric acid, remedy for scur-
vy 51
CIRCBF CITY 25
Cost of outfit 96
Described by Eli A. Gage 322
Exodus from 172
CLAIMS (mining)—
Boundaries of 116
How to file 116 to 120
How to locate 116 to 118
Klondike, all taken 109
CLAIMS— Continued. Page
Location — Canadian regu-
lations 149
Number on Klondike.. 294, 295
Survey of 116, 117
Clay in Canada 382
Cleaning up process (min-
ing) 132
Cleaning up sluices (mining) 131
Clearwater river 193
Climate, Alaska 400
Clothing, see Outfits.
Clothing, cost of, Dawson
City 266
Clothing, Yukon 326
Clut, Isadore (Bishop) 202, 384
Coal in Canada 3>'3
Coal in Klondike district 295
Coal in Yukon district 246
Coast range mountains 287
Columbia river, gold rush.... 305
Committee's Punch bowl 190
Cone hill (Forty-mile) river.. 89
Constantine Fort (Cudahy).. 89
Cook inlet 238
Copper plates in sluicing
(mining) 131, 132
Copper pyrites (mining)
110, 113, 115
Copper in Canada 3?4
Copper river 238, 255
Coppermine river 382
COST—
Beef at Fort Cudahy 286
Claims per acre 120
Dinner, Dawson City 273
Freight to gold diggings.. 244
Outfit 50, 57, 99
Outfit, Circle City 322
Travel, back door route
99, 203, 204
Travel, all water route.. 96
Travel overland 98
CRADLE (mining) 123
How to use 123, 124
When to use 125
Cradling, not economical 125
Creeks (see rivers).
Crime, Dawson City 273
Crooked Creek 304
CUDAHY FORT
89, 96, 282, 283, 284
Average temperature. .232, 283
Described by Eli A. Gage. 334
First boats to arrive 292
Curran, P. J., describes Back
Door route 208
Curtain (mining) 123
D'Abbadie (Big Salmon) river 78
Dalton J 292
Daly (Little Salmon) river.. 78
Dance hall, Dawson City 272
Davidson, Prof. George 224
Davis Croek 252
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
405
Page
DAWSON CITY
15, 25, 31, 32, 41, 88. 162
Amusements 274
Baths 272
Bars 272
Church 272
Climate 271
Cost of outfit 96
Crime 173
Dress making 267
First boats to arrive 292
Gambling 273
How laid out 267
Orchestra 272
Papers 274
Population 268
Prices, food, clothing, etc.
169, 266
Restaurants 273
Value of lots 169
Life in 266
Dawson, Dr. G. M.
67, 74, 75, 78, 201, 288, S?4, 385
Deer (Klondike) river 88
Diseases common in Klondike
234, 235, 236
DISTANCES—
Chicago to Calgary 190
Circle City to Ft. Cudahy. 319
Dyea to Cudahy ,292
Dyea to Dawson City.. 32, 292
Edmonton to Fort Mac-
pherson 33, 203
Juneau to head Lynn
canal 25
Juneau to Lake Teslin 39
Mail route, Juneau-Circle
City 258
Pacific occean to Fort Sel-
kirk 253
San Francisco to Fort
Cudahy 90
Seattle to Dawson City... 32
Seattle to Dawson City
via St. Michael 25
Seattle to Dawson City
via Stikeen river 47
Seattle to Dawson City
via Takou river 41
Seattle to Juneau 25
St. Michael to Fort Cud-
ahy 291
St. Michael to mouth Yu-
kon river 292
Stewart river to mouth
Yukon river 9)
Navigation on Takou
river 39
Trail, Telegraph creek to
Lake Teslin 41
Telegraph creek to Lake
Teslin 292
Yukon (mouth) to Lake
Teslin 292
21
Page
DISTANCES— Continued.
Yukon (mouth) to head
navigation 292
Table— All water route... 32
Table— Back door route.. 33
Table— Overland route 32
Table— Ogilvie's 90
Table— Stikeen river route 47
Table— Takou river route. 41
Table— Ogilvie's (Taiya
Pass) 93
Table (Ogilvie's)— Stikeen
river route 90
Table (Ogilvie's) — Victo-
ria Taiya pass 90
DOGS on Mackenzie river 155
Hudson's Bay Co 204
Siwash 323
Value of Edmonton 212
Value of Yukon 172
Drifts (mining) 114
Dryden, Prof. James 381
Duffleld, Gen 224
Dutch harbor 21
Dyea inlet 26
Dyea pass 25, 98
Eagle's nest 83
Edmonton 99, 190
EL DORADO CREEK
16, 94, 163, 164, 165, 294
Amount gold taken out
163, 164
Character of Claims 113
Pan values claims 176, 179
Big Strikes 172, 173, 174
Elk (Athabasca) river 191
Emmons Prof. S. F 2^3
Episcopal mission, Circle
City 367
Excelsior, steam ship 162
False bottoms, block, zig-
zag (mining) 123
Farg'o N. D 204
Federal officials, Alaska 398
Fees, mining, Canadian 149
First left-hand fork 15
Fish, Takou river 40
Five Finger rapids 83
Float rock (mining) 114
Fluor spar (mining) 114, 115
FOOD see Outfits.
Cost, Dawson City 266
Pemmican (jerked beef)
194, 195
Required by prospectors.. 51
Required Back Door route
99, 203, 204, 211
Required ner man per
day SO
Required for year 50
Shortage of 245
Trappers and Indians .... 19S
406
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Page
Fool's gold 109
Forts, see Trading Posts.
Forty Mile Creek 89, 9a, 303
Forty Mile, town 25, 8.t, 162
Franklin, Sir John 145, 190
Gage, Eli A., account Yukon
journey 318
Galena, deposits 302
Gambling, Dawson City 273
GAME—
In Klondike country 373
Ogilvie's report on 375
On Takou river 40
In Northwest territories.. 212
Gastineau channel 298
Glacier creek 296
Gnats 243
GOLD—
Africa 343
As powder (mining) 113
Australia 343
Alluvial deposits 113
Birch creek output 277
Birch creek district 252
British Columbia gold
belt 295
British India 343
Canada , 343
Character of in placers.. 109
Character quartz Yukon
246, 247
Capital required by gold
seekers 94
Dust, fine lOg
Effect of arsenic and sul-
phur 113
Fools 109
Forty Mile district 251
Free, how to detect 110
Guiding test for Il3
How stored in the Klon-
dike 170
How to separate from
sand 122
Klondike, character of . . . . 163
List big strikes 183
Mexico 343
Miner's guide 108
Mining requires capital... 106
Mother lode 109
Nuggets, where found 110
Prospector's guide 108
Prospector's pan 120
Product, world's 343
Quartz 115
Quartz in Klondike 169
Russia 343
To develop Kamchatkan
fields 357
GOLD, WHERE FOUND—
Adams creek 16
Admiralty island 302
GOLD, WHERE FOUND— CoH.
Alaska, southeast 298
American creek 214
Annette island 301
Barren grounds 382
Bear creek 16
Berner's bay 237
Big Salmon river 302
Birch creek 238, 248, 303
Bonanza creek 15, 16, 17
Caribou (Cariboo) district
185, 105,' 201
Cassiar district
17, 48, 75, 295, 386
Chicken creek 296
Copper river 238, 255
Crooked creek 304
Davis creek 252
Densmuir's bar 390
Dominion creek 185
Douglas island 302
El Dorado creek 15, 16
First left-hand fork 16
Fish creek * 304
Forty Mile creek
238, 248, 303, 386, 3S9, 390
Franklin creek 252
Glacier creek 296, 303
Gold creek 298
Gold Bottom creek 16
Hootalinqua river
16, 185, 295, 302
Hudson Bay 382
Hunker creek 16
Indian river 16, 293, 295
Juneau district 298
Kettleson fork 16
Klondike river
15, 17, 108, 162, 293, 389
Kootenai district 186
Koyukuk river 258, 303
Lewes river 302, 386
Liard river ....185, 382, 385, 389
Mackenzie river basin
201, 382, 385
Mastodon creek 252
McCormac's bar 390
Miller creek 252, 296, 303
Mission creek 214
Molymute creek 3o4
Nisulantine river 49
North Fork (Birch creek) 304
Northwest territories ... 382
Ominaca district 201
Quartz creek 16
Peace river 382
Peel river 382
Pelly river 16, 295, 302
Phil creek 16
Prince of Wales island .. 301
Rossland district 186
Sheep creek 298
Silver Bow basin 252
Sixty Mile creek 303
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
407
Page
GOLD, WHERE FOUND-Con.
South Fork (Birch creek). 3v4
Stewart river
16, 86, 185, 2£8, 295
Sum Dum district 301
Tanana river 303
Telly creek 293
Teslintoo (Hootalinqua)
1 iver 75
Thron-Diuck (Klondike)
river 293
Too-much-gold cieek 16
Treadwell mine 237
Unga field 237
Wild creek 3 4
Yukon and branches
65 to 93, 3S9
Yukon district 238, 246, 384, 389
Yukon river IT, 389, 390
Gold, where found. Gen. Duf-
field 224
Gold Bottom creek 16, 166, 294
Gold creek -98
Good Hope Fort 33
Gordon, Charles U 257
Goodrich, H. B 237
Gray, Albert D 47
Graphite, in Canada 384
Great Fish river 1S9
Great Slave river 192
Gypsum, in Canada 3S2
Hammer, prospector's 113
Harper, Hudson's Bay Co.
trader 258
Harrisburg (Juneau) 298
Harris, Richard 298
Hearne, Samuel 189
Heming, A'. H. H 34, 99
Higgins, Croft W 195
Hopper (mining) 123
Horn spoon 113, 122
Holy cross 25
Hootalinqua (Teslintoo) riv-
er....17, 32, 41, 72, 75, 78, 302
HUDSON'S BAY CO.
33, 34, 189, 190, 201, 2:8
History of 307
First posts — 307
Competition 311
Colonies 312
Forts 314
Indians 315
Administration 315
The "Fur Trade" 316
Territory 317
Traders 3S3
Trappers 193
Hunter creek 16, 166, 294
INDIANS—
Ben Holden, musical
genius 366
INDIANS— Continued.
Chilkat 73
Chilkoot 26
Chinook 73
Church 365
Copper river 255
Discovered gold in Klon-
dike 162
Educated 365
Metlakahtla 364
Model town 363
Pillaged Fort Selkirk 85
Schools 365
Tagish 68, 183
To paddle canoes Back
Door route 34
Ingersoll islands 84
INLETS—
Cook 238
Dyea 26
Takou (Taku) 40, 41, 77
Taiya (Dyea) 72
Indian river 16, 238, 293, 295
INTERNATIONAL BOUND-
ARY—
Dispute 213
Location 216, 217
Iron, in Canada 385
Iron pyrites (mining)
109, 110, 113, 115
Iskoot river 48
Jerked beef (Pemmican). .194, 195
Jimtown 41
Johns, W. D., richness placer
mines 162
Jones, W. J., describes model
Indian town 363
Juneau 25, 32, 41
Juneau route 85
Katune creek 40
Kettleson fork 16
Klaheela river 293
Klamath gold rush 3ij5
KLONDIKE GOLD DIS-
TRICT—
Character gold streak 17
Claims, value of 164, 165
Diseases 234, 2S5, 236
Estimated gold produc-
tion 342
Geological conditions 253
How and when gold was
found 162
Influence output on world
345, 356
List of big strikes 183
Location 15
Mail service 257
Nature of gold deposit 108
Pan values claims 163, 176
Permanent value 183
408
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Page
KLONDIKE GOLD DIST.-Con.
Production and develop-
ment 181
Richness of claims 295
Rich pay dirt 163
Sunrise 262
Summer and winter work 169
Wages 169
Quartz veins 174, 296
Klondike river ..15, 94, 1G2, 168, 293
Kootenai gold district 186
Koserefskv 25
Koykuk river 238
Krook, Robert 2"3
Kutlik 25
Ladue, Joseph 26G, 267, £6>
LAKES—
Athabasca S3, 189, 191
Bennett 26, 32. 66, 67, 77
Bove (Tagish) 67
Committee's Punch bowl. 15^0
Dease 41, 48. 192
Great Bear £82
Great Slave 33, 190, 191
Kaukitchie 49
Le Barge SI, 32, 73, .4
Lesser Slave 191
Lindeman 32, 65, 6G, 67
Marsh (Mud) ....31, 32, 71, 72
Mayhew 87
Nares 66
Simpson 205
Takone (Windy Arm) . .67, 71
Tagish 31, 32
Teslin 39, 41
White Whale 205
Windy Arm 67, 71
Winnepeg 192, 20i
La Loche portage 193
Land office regulations,
Alaska 116
Land office regulations,
(claims) 116 to 120
Land reserved for sale 136
Last Chance creek 165
Law, mining, Canadian 149
X-aw, miners' meetings 324
X.aw, United States mining.. 13t
Le Barge, Mike 75
Letters, see Mails.
Lewes river
65, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 84, 302
Liard river 77, 192, 193
Limestone, Canada 382
Ljppy, T. S 173
Little Salmon river 78
Lodes, auriferous (mining)... lit
Lode, how to prospect for 115
Lode, mother 109
Long Tom (mining) 125. 126
I..ouisville, railroad tales to
Pacific seaports 105
Lynn Canal 25, 292
Page
Mackenzie, explorer 189, 190
Mackenzie river. 33, 34, 189, 191, 193
Macpherson Fort 33, 34, 9.t
MAILr-
Circle City 325
Service for the Klondike.. 257
List of Yukon carriers.... 258
Service, hardships 261
To Fort Macpherson 204
Magnets, use in prospecling.. 122
Matrices (mining) 114
Maris, Omer 24, 61
Mastodon creek 252
Matrix (mining) 114
McClintock river 72
Mcintosh, Gov. H. C 184
McMurray Fort 33
McQuestion, trader 288
Medicine, what to take 62
Memphis, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 105
Mercury, used in sluicing 131
Mercury, used in panning 122
Metlakahtla 363
Mica in Canada 382
Mica, taken for gold 110, 113
Miles canyon 31
Mills, A. E 41, 47
ililler creek 2.52
MINES—
Alaska 237
In northwest territory .... 382
Tenderfoot 94
Quartz 23J, 241
Miners' guide 108
Miners' hospitality 333
Miners' meeting 324
MINING LAWS—
Canadian 149
United States 136
MINING LAW OF CANADA 149
Abandoned claim 153
Agents 154
Application for grant 154
Arbitrators 154, 155
Award of damages 156
Bar diggings defined 149
Bench diggings defined .. 150
Dry diggings defined 150
Certificate of assignment. 156
Claims, defined 150
Claims, discovery 151
Claims, nature and size
134, 151
Close season defined 150
Damages 155
Entry of claims 152
Entry fee 152
Entry renewal 152
Forms of application.. 152, 159
Form of Certificate 156
Form grant 160
Grant of claim 153
Grant for placer claim.... 160
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
409
Page
MINING LAW OF CANADA—
Continued.
Legal post defined 150
Locality, defined — 150
Miner defined 150
Mineral defined 150
Mortgaging claim 153
Patent 151
Post, legal 150
Proof required 154
Recording claims 152
Sale of claims 153
Size of claims 150, 151
Surface rights 154
Water, use of 153
MINING LAWS, UNITED
STATES 135
Adverse claims 145, 146
Districts, mining 143
License to explore, occupy
and purchase mineial
lands 136
Lands, mineral, reserved
from sale 136
Locators must show proof
_ of citizenship 137
How done 137
Lode claims 142, 143
Mining districts 143,141
Patent, application for
lode claim 130, 140
Patent, application for
placer claim 139, 140
Patent, for mixed claim
140, 141
Placer claim defined 137
Placer claim containing
lode Ill
Restrictions to location .. 137
Restrictions, when on
surveyed ground 1"8
Subdivision of locations.. 138
Tunnels '. 145
Work on claims n 145
Mining locations, Canadian.. 149
Minerals, how to search for. . 114
Minerals in northwest terri-
tories 3S1
Minneapolis, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 104
Missions £67, 36S
Missionaries 371
Mission creek 214
Moore, chief weather bu-
reau 22S
Mountain river 2'i5
Mosquitoes 243, 277
Nahlin river 49
Nakinah river 40, 41
Nashville, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 105
Newberry (Hootalinqua) riv-
Page
New England railroad rates
to Pacific seaports — 100
New Orleans railroad rates
to Pacific seapoits 105
New York, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 100
Nisulantine river 41)
Nordenskiold river 83
North American Trading and
Transportation Co..281, 291
Norman Fort 33
Norton sound 292
Northwest company 312
Northwest mounted police.. 50, 170
Northwest territories. 149, 189. 190
Novikakat 25
Nuggets, Klondike, value of.. 163
Nulato 25
Ochre in Canada 382
Ogilvie William
65, 213, 2.-7, 288, 291
Ottawa river 76
Outcrops (mining) 114
OUTFITS—
Amount of food per man
per year 50
Back-door route 103, 211
Carr's list 51
Eli A. Gage's 325
Food, toofi, etc 51, 52
For the gold-seeker 50
Medicine chest 62
Model list, party of 4 55
Northern Pacific's list 53
Places to buy 61
Prices 54, 56, 96, 97, 322
Prospectors 113
Standard list 57, 58
Weight of 57
Pacific ocean ports, rates to
(see railroads).
Pan, prospectors 113
Panning process 121
PASSES—
Chilkoot 26, 39, 97
Dyea 26, 292
Taiya (Dyea) 292
White 72
Unimak 24
Parka (Parkee) ?27
Peace river ISO, 191, 193
Peel river 33, 34, 87. 192
Pelly river 16, 32, 7S, 84, 302
Pembina river 205
Pemmican (jerked beef) ..194, 195
Perry Arthur 171
Petroleum, Canada 382
Phil creek 16
Philadelphia railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 105
Pittsburg railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 106
410
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Feme
PLACER MINES—
Canadian regulations — 149
Character gold 309
Klondike 10<
How done in Alaska 17, IS
Pan values Klondike lOS
Richness of Ifi2
Guide lOS
Plumee (Peel) river 192
Poor man's mine P4
PORTAGKS—
Back-door route ?1
Chilkoot pass 26
Cost of making PS
Dog lake to Salt river.... 192
Edmonton - Athabasca
landing 33. 190
Fort Macpherson - La-
pierre house 203
Husky river - Porcupine
river 207
Lake Llndeman - Lake
Bennett 26, 82
Tia Loche 193
Peel river-Stewart river..
33, 195
On Takou river 39, 41
Smith Landing-Ft. Smith 192
Simpson Lake-Francis
Lake 20.5
White Whale lake-Pem-
bina river 205
Portland, railroad rates to..
100, 103, 104, 10".
Post office, Dawson City 273
Post office, see mails.
PROSPECTOR'S GUIDE .... lOS
Alluvial deposits . .110, 113, 114
Affidavits 118
Amalgamating plates ..... 132
Arsenic 113
Assaying 116
Auriferous lodes 114
Back trenches 110
Bed rock 110
Blowing process 122
]ioundaries of claims 117
California pump 133
California Tom 125
Calc spar 114, 115
Certificates required 120
Channels 109
Cl.aims, how to locate,
file, record and convey
116, 117, 118
Cleaning up 124, 131, 132
Copper pyrites ....110, 113, 115
Cradle 123, 124
Cradling 123
Deposits, where found 110
Drifts 114
Float rocks 114
Flow of water 110
Fluor .spar 114,113
Page
PROSPECTOR'S GUIDE-Con.
Foot wall 115
Gold, in alluvial ground., lid
Gold, in fine powder 113
Gold, guiding test 113
Gold, native 110
Gold, pure 113
Ground sluice 128
Grub pacJ-c 113
Gulches 109
Haininer 113
Hanging wall 115
Horn spoon 122
Indications, surface 115
Iron pyrites 110, 113, 115
Land office regulations
116, 117, 118, 119, 120
Land slide 114
Lode 114, 115
Long Tom 125
Ijower wall 115
Magnets 122
Magnifying glass 110, 113
Materials mistaken for
gold 113, 115
Matrix 114
Mercury how used 122, 131
Mica 110, 113
Mineral veins 114
Mother lode il4
Mountain chains 110
Notice of intention 117
Outcrops 114
Pan 11.3, 121
Panning 122
Pick 113
Placers 114
Plat of survey 117
Quartz 114, 115
Record of location 118, 119
Register of locater 123
River beds 109, 114
Rocks, loose 109
Sections 114
Shaft, prospecting 115
Shovel 113
Sluices 120, 127, 128
Streams, gold-bearing 110
Strike of lodes 115
Sulphur 113
Surface indications 115
Survey of Claim 116, 117
Pump, California 133
Tools 113
Upper wall 115
Valleys 114
Veins, mineral 114
Walls 115
Water supply for pan — 123
Water supply for cradle.. 125
Water supply for Long
Tom 126
Water supply for sluicing
127. 128
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
411
Preston, R. E 342
Providence, Fort 33
Pyrites 109, 110, 113, 115
Quartz creek 16
Quartz, described 114,115
RAILROAD PROJECTED—
Athabasca Landing — 23, 58
RAILROAD RATES, to Pa-
cific Ocean 100
From Atlanta 105
From Baltimore 105
From Buffalo 103
From Charleston 105
From Chicago 104
From Cincinnati 105, 106
From Denver 104
From Louisville 105
From Memphis 105
From Minneapolis 105
From Nashville 105
From New Orleans 105
From New York 105
From Omaha 10!
From Pittsburg 105, 106
From Philadelphia 105
From St. Paul 104
From Washington 105
On Back Door route 105
From Chicago to Calgary 203
Rainfall, Alaska 228
RAPIDS—
Five finger 83
Great 191
Rink 83
White Horse 31, 73
Rates, see Railroads.
Red River (of the North).. 73, 204
Reliance, Fort 85,87, 88
Resolution, Fort 33
Rink rapids 83
RIVERS, STREAMS, CREEKS
Adams creek 16
Anvik river 312
Athabasca river
33, 189, 190, 191, 193
Bear creek 16, 294
Beaver river 86, 87
Beebe creek 49
Biche (Athabasca) river.. 190
Big Salmon river 78, 302
Birch creek 238, 304
Bonanza creek
15, 16, 94, 162, 164, 166, 294
Chandindu river 88
Chicken creek 296
Chilkat river 292
Clearwater river 193
Cone Hill (Forty Mile)
river 89
Copper river 238, 255
Coppermine river 382
Crooked creek 304
Page
RIVERS, STREAMS, CREEKS
— Continued.
D'Abbadie (Big Salmon)
river 78
Daly (Little Salmon) river 78
Davis creek 262
Dominion creek 185
Deer (Klondike) river 88
El Dorado creek
16. 94, 163, 164, 165, 294
Elk (Athabasca) river 191
First left-hand fork 16
Fish creek 304
Forty Mile river 89
Glacier creek 296
Gold Bottom creek.. 16. 166, 294
Gold creek 298
Great Fish river 189
Great Slave river 189
Hootalinqua (Teslintoo)
river.. 17, 32, 41, 72, 75, 76, 302
Hunker creek 16, 166, 294
Indian river.... 16, 238, 293, 295
Innako river 304
Iskoot river 48
Katune creek 40
Kettleson fork 16
Koykuk river 238
Klaheela river 293
Klondike (Thron-Diuck)
river ....15, 94, 162, 166, 293
Last Chance creek 166
Lewes river 65, 71, 72, 73
75, 76. 78. 84, 302
Liard river 77, 192, 193
Little Salmon river 77
Mackenzie river
33, 34, 189, 191, 192, 193
Mastodon creek 252
McClintock river 72
Miller creek 252. 296
Mission (American) creek 214
Molymute creek 304
Mountain river 205
Nahlin river 49
Nakinah river 40, 41
Newberry (Hootalinqua
or Teslintoo) river 75
Nisulantine river 49
Nordenskiold river 83
Ottawa river 76
Peace river 189, 191. 193
Peel river 33, 34, 87, 192
Pelly river ....16, 32, 78, 84, 302
Pembina river 205
Phil creek 16
Plumme (Peel) river 192
Quartz creek 16
Red river (of the North).73, 204
Rosebud creek 86
Saskatchewan river
73, 192, 204
Sheep creek 301
Sixty Mile creek 31, 88
412
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
Page
RIVERS, STREAMS, CREEKS
—Continued.
Stewart river
16, 33. 85, 86, 87, S8, 238, 302
Stikeen (Stickeen, Stikine)
river 41, 193
Takou (Taku) river.. 39, 41, 76
Tahkeenah (Tehkeenah)
river 73, 78, 293
Tahltan river 41, 42
Tanana river 25, 303
Tatshun river 84
Tehkeena (Tahkeena) riv-
er 73, 78
Telegraph creek — 41, 42, 47
Teslintoo (Hootalinqua)
river
17, 32, 41, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78
Thirty Mile (Lewes) river 49
Thron-Diuck (Klondike)
river SS, 293
Tilly creek 294
Too-much-gold creek ..16, 293
Wheaton river 66
Whipple creek 171
White river 85, 302
Wild creek ;_. 304
Yukon river 15, 17, 32
41, 42, S4, 85, 87, 88, 162
Ritchtofen rocks 74
Rockwell (Juneau) 298
Roquette rock 90
Rossland gold district 186
Rosebud creek 86
Routes, described by Omer
Maris 24
Routes, see Distances.
ROUTES—
All water via St. Michael
24 25 96
Back Door 33, 99, 'm 204
Dalton's, via Chilkat in-
let 292
Juneau, via Dyea 25, 32
Overland, via Dyea.. 26, 31, 32
Stikeen river 41, 47
Takou river 39, 40, 41
"Via White pass 170
St. Michael 24,25, 96
St. Paul, railroad rates to
Pacific seaports 104
Salt in Canada 382
San Francisco, railroad rates
to 100, 103, 104, 105
Saskatchewan river ...73, 192, 204
Schwatka, Frederick
66, 71, 78, 213
Scurvy, remedy for 51
Seattle 24, 25, 32, 41, 47
Seattle, railroad rates to
100, 103, 104, 105
Selkirk, Fort 31. 84, 287
Silver 302, 346, 357, 382
Silver Queen mine 301
Page
Sitka 233, 298
Sixty Mile creek 31, 88
Simpson, Fort 33
Skagaway (Skaguay) bay.... 189
Sleeping car rates
100, 103, 104, 105, 106
Smith, Fort 33
Smith Landing 33, 34
Spurr Prof. J. S 237
STEAMERS—
Baggage 98
Fare on 95, 97
Mail, schedule 257
Stewart river
16, 33, 85, 86, 87, 88, 238, 302
Stikeen (Stikine) river 41, 193
Strander Anton 173
Streams, see rivers.
Sulphur in Canada 382
Tahkeena river 73, 78, 293
Tahltan bridge 41
Tahltan river 41, 42
Taiyea (Dyea) pass 72, 292
Takou (Taku) inlet 292
Takou (Taku) river 39, 41, 76
Tanana river 25
Tariff tax, Canadian 62, 63
Tatshun river 84
Telegraph creek 41,42, 47
Telegraph, projected 264
Alaska 228, 232
Cudahy 232
Mackenzie river basin.... 194
Sitka 232
Tent, Yukon river 327
Teslintoo (Hootalinqua) river 72
Test, for gold 113
Test for mica 113
Test for pyrites 113
Thirty Mile (Lewes) river 49
Thron-Diuck (Klondike) river 88
Tilly creek 294
Tools, see Outfit.
Too-much-gold creek 16
Tourist sleepers, rates
lO^J, 103, 104, 105, 106
TRADING POSTS—
Athabasca landing 190
Chippewayan, Fort 33,193
Edmonton 33, 99
Good Hope, Fort 33, 193
Macpherson. Fort 33,193
McMurray, Fort 33, 193
Norman, Fort 33, 193
Providence, Fort 33, 193
Reliance, Fort 33, 193
Resolution, Fort 33, 193
Simpson, Fort 33, 193
Smith, Fort 33, 192, 193
Wrangel Fort 41
Wrigley, Fort 33, 193
TRAILS—
Dease lake 41
Kaukitchie lakes 49
INDEX TO CONTENTS.
413
Page
TRAILS— Continued.
Telegraph creek 41
Stikeen river 48
Treadwell mine 301, 302
Unimak pass 24
Vancouver railroad rates to
100, 103, 104, 105
Vegetables, Cudahy 284, 285
Vegetables, Klondike 271
Veins, mineral, how found.. 114
Victoria, B. C, railroad rates
to 100, 103, 104, 105
Volcanoes in Alaska 399
Wages in Klondike district.. 169
Wages, in Youkon district.. 242
Washington, D. C, railroad
rates to Pacific sea-
ports 105
Water, required for panning 123
Water, required for sluicing 126
Wells, A. E 233
Page
Wheaton river 66
Whipple creek 171
White river 72, 85
Winter, in the Klondike 23
Wrangel, Fort 41
Wrigley, Fort 33
YUKON DISTRICT—
Agricultural possibilities.. 386
Claims, value of 281
First miners 288
First prospected 386
Geographical divisions ... 302
Known for years 381
Prospecting in Il3
Spurr's report on 237, 251
Yukon Fort 25, 287, 288
YUKON RIVER—
Explorations 293
Gold first discovered 302
Headwaters 42
Navigation 292
Report on by Ogilvie.. .65, 287
Yukon sled 326
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News from the Klondike.
THE CHICAGO RECORD was the only newspaper in the
United States which had a correspondent in the Klondike region at
the time of the great strike of gold. Mr. William D. Johns an-
nounced the Klondike discovery in THE CHICAGO RECORD in an
article published March 2, lS97, which had been sent out of the
Yukon country 1,000 miles by dog sledge to the coast. Three
articles by Eli Gage, son of the secretary of the treasury, also gave
information of these gold llelds before the great excitement caused
by the return of shiploads of fortunate gold seekers by the Excel-
sior to San Francisco and by the Portland to Seattle.
Under date of June 18 Mr. Johns wrote again from the Klon-
dike to THE CHICAGO RECORD, giving in detail the results of the
digging up to that date.
In the summer of 1896 Omer Maris, a journalist of ability, and
a gold-mining expert, was sent to the Yukon country by THE CHI-
CAGO RECORD. His many articles on the country and the gold-
mining operations there attracted wide attention. At the mouth of
the Klondike river he met and conversed with George Carmack,
who four weeks later discovered the great placer gold deposits a
few miles away which now comprise the famous diggings. Mr.
Maris sailed again from Seattle Aug. 2, 1897, in the fast yacht
Rosalie for Juneau and Dyea as THE CHICAGO RECORD'S chief
representative in the Yukon region. As he is familiar with the
country he will probably reach Dawson City in an unusually short
space of time and will remain there all winter, sending out dis-
patches as often as possible. Mr. Johns will also remain as a rep-
resentative of THE CHICAGO RECORD on the Klondike river.
William J. Jones, United States Commissioner for Alaska, is also a
regular correspondent for THE RECORD from the gold fields.
Correspondents at Juneau, St. Michael, Victoria, Tacoma,
Seattle, San Francisco and Edmonton, N. W. T., are looking after
news of the gold fields for THE CHICAGO RECORD. In Ottawa,
Montreal and Toronto special correspondents will give the news of
the gold fields coming from Canadian official sources. Mr. Lee, a
special correspondent for THE RECORD, is on his way to the Klon-
dike by way of Lake Athabasca, the Mackenzie river and Fort
McPherson, and through the coming fall and winter will describe
that important route, long traveled by voyageurs of the Hudson's
Bay company. THE CHICAGO RECORD has led on news from the
Klondike and the Yukon region and will continue to furnish abso-
lutely reliable reports.
TtiE CHICAGO RECORD
Prints all the news from all the world, it is a member of
The Associated Press and special correspondents represent
it at all important news centers. Its facilities for news-
gathering are unsurpassed by those of any other Chicago
daily.
It is a short-and-to-the-point paper. Its matter of all
kinds is closely edited with the view of giving the reader
all the news of the day and eliminating the merely trivial and
inconsequential. It is designed to be a daily paper for busy
people.
It is an independent newspaper. It aims to be fair and
impartial in discussing men and measures and to give its
readers all political news free from the taint of partisan bias.
It is pre-eminently a family newspaper. It is clean
-throughout and, in addition to "all the news" tersely told,
every issue contains more or less entertaining matter of a
literary and general character of common interest in the
family circle. A daily installment of an original serial story
of high grade is a regular feature.
The circulation of The Record averages over 190,000
copies a day and is the largest — very much the largest —
morning circulation in Chicago.
The Record is sold by newsdealers everywhere and
is delivered by carriers anywhere in Chicago. Order of
newsdealers or by postal card to the office of publication,
181 E, Madison-st, Chicago.
Nothing in This World
Is so cheap as a newspaper, whether it be
measured by the cost of its production or by its
value to the consumer. We are talking about an
American, metropolitan, daily paper of the first
class like THE CHICAGO RECORD. It's so cheap
and so good you can't afford in this day of
progress to be without it. There are other papers
possibly as good, but none better, and none just
like it. It prints all the real news of the
world — the news you care for— every day, and
prints it in the shortest possible space. You can
read THE CHICAGO RECORD and do a day's
work too. It is an independent paper and gives
all political news free from the taint of party
bias. In a word — it's a complete, condensed,
clean, honest family newspaper, and it has the
largest morning circulation in Chicago or the
west— 190,000 to 200,000 a day.
Prof. J. T. Hatfield of the Northwestern
University says: *'THE CHICAGO RECORD
comes as near being the ideal daily jour=
nal as we are for some time likely to find
on these mortal shores/*
Sold by newsdealers everywhere, and sub-
scriptions received by all postmasters. Address
THE CHICAGO RECORD, 181 Madison-st.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
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